A Clone in Disguise
by MiraculousTalenny
Summary: Penny infiltrates MAD in disguise as her evil clone on a mission to find MAD's future plots, but her mission would be simpler if Talon wasn't so rude to her and she didn't have a stupid cat allergy. Will Penny succeed with a suspicious and moody Talon on her tracks? T for minor swears and violence. Talon x Penny.
1. The Mission Begins

**A/N: My first Inspector Gadget story. This is PennyxTalon :) This was supposed to be two separate stories but I'm combining them. Go onto my profile and you'll find two other IG stories coming in the future. Leave a review on what you think and if I should continue?**

 **Thanks :)**

* * *

Penny ran down a street at her highest speed. Her Code-X displayed above her right wrist. On the blue holographic screen was a tracking device. A dot was quickly moving, and she was far behind it. The dot stood for Talon.

A tracking chip had been placed in Talon's boots a while back. The chip only worked when met with a source of electricity. The source of electricity: rocket power. Talon's boots had rocket boosters inside them; fueled with rocket power, which was perfect for the chip to work properly.

Now, it had finally come in handy for Penny's solo-mission. Her Uncle had blabbed it in his sleep, and it struck a light bulb in her head. Brain, as always, was against the plot. But Penny was an agent-in-training, and how many times had she made her Uncle's missions a success? Brain couldn't argue with that, so he let her head get to her.

Penny was going to infiltrate MAD. Talon had infiltrated them many times, so she wanted to pay him back a favor by doing the same thing. Why not? Sure, there was already an undercover HQ agent in the MAD facility. But reports had recently shown that he had begun to devote his loyalty to MAD and not HQ. Penny figured she could go in, and catch up on any missions that the undercover HQ agent hasn't reported without getting exposed and caught.

As she ran, she would smile lightly at the memory of her Uncle Gadget overreacting to the news that she was going on a dangerous mission of her own.

* * *

 __Flashback__

 _Penny sat in front of a gray mirror in Professor Von Slickstein's lab. Behind her was her Uncle Gadget, Brain, and Chief Quimby who was giving a few agents the run-down of the mission. Penny looked at her pale, pink lips as she held the black lipstick towards them. She didn't like wearing dark make-up. Mainly because it reminded her of MAD._

 _Gadget sniffled his nose as he wiped his sudden tears away. "How will I defeat MAD when I know Penny is with them? What if I have to fight her?" he asked with doubt in his voice while he wiped his face with a tissue that had ejected from his hat. Brain face-palmed as usual and Penny laughed lightly as she kept glaring at the black lipstick in her hand._

 _"Simple." Chief Quimby clued in as he held a self-destructing messenger, "Don't fight her." Brain nodded in agreement while lowering his palm from his face. But, of course, Inspector Gadget had to make things more complicated._

 _"But what if she tries to fight me?"_

 _Quimby chuckled, and Brain snickered. Penny turned to the people she called her family. "I won't fight you, Uncle Gadget. But Talon might."_

 _Quimby laughed and Gadget sighed in relief, "Thank, Gadgets. Talon doesn't stand a chance against me!"_

 _Turning away from everyone, Penny looked at herself in the mirror. The thing that stood out the most on her now was the ugly purple-pink ombre strip on her bangs. It didn't look too bad, but it was a change for her that would take some time to get used to._

 _Placing the horrid lipstick onto her lips, she thought fearfully._ Would this work?

 __Flashback__

* * *

Looking back at her Code-X, the tracking device's signal had taken a left into a back alley. The alley looked like it was cornered, so there was no escape for the boy. If she had to be honest, Penny didn't want Talon to be caught. He was a main key in this mission. With him being Second-in-Command to Dr. Claw, that would make her mission easier.

Suddenly, the tracker's signal disappeared. Penny looked at her Code-X in shock and partly denial, though she knew and remembered which alley he had ran into. What had happened? Why and how did the signal disappear? Had Talon found the tracking device and removed it? She knew HQ was in danger if he had found it and she would never get over the guilt of suggesting the tracking chip to Chief Quimby.

Up ahead, Penny saw a squad of policemen mixed with undercover HQ agents disguised as detectives running the streets. They were obviously looking for Talon. The HQ agents were there to direct her to Talon's location if she lost track of them, which she obviously had. They knew of the mission; they were the ones Quimby had given the run-down to. But not the police, as that would not be permitted by them.

One of the agents saw her in the distance, and pointed towards the alley she had seen Talon run into. Penny nodded a thank you towards her that wasn't too obvious or seen by the police officers. Now, she just had to get past the police squad. Another HQ agent must have read her mind because he pointed towards another nearby alley across the street. "That way, he went in there!" In one blink of an eye, all the policemen were gone in that alley with batons, tasers, and guns prepared to make Talon surrender.

Running towards the alley Talon had run into, she heard a faint cursing with a signature groan.

"Stupid rocket boosters! Always glitchin' up at the wrong time!"

Talon's voice; with a scent of his traditional hair gel. _Thank Gadgets,to that HQ agent._ Talon was in plain sight and the agent shooed them off before the worse could happen. Talon was on the Most Wanted list issued by the PD, so being arrested dead or alive did not matter. Death was a bigger possibility than alive.

Closing her Code-X, Penny nervously walked into the alley where she saw the GPS track Talon to, and sure enough, she saw his shadow. His boots were in his hands, brought up to his face. Frustration glazed his eyes as he looked for a way to reboot them. The boots gave off a purple light that illuminated his face in a way that made Penny blush. Penny shrugged it off though. She couldn't distract herself; this was her mission. If she messed up on Dr. Claw's ship or lair, it was certain death for her or one of those brutal punishments that Talon received every time HQ stopped them.

Clearing her throat loudly enough to catch his attention, Penny gave Talon a slight smile. His eyes shifted towards her and for a moment, he couldn't believe who he saw. But his look of surprise quickly faltered and was replaced with one of displeasure. Talon lowered his rocket boots from his face as Penny seized up.

Did he know it was her?

"Well," Talon started. A glare of hatred in his brown eyes that slowly stabbed into Penny's heart. "Look who came back to me after assaulting me. The stupid, MAD clone that I should never of created." His voice was cruel and harsh, but Penny couldn't figure out why he was being like this. What did her evil clone do to him?

She shook the thought away though and made her smile disappear. "Uh, sorry for whatever I did. I don't remember anything."

"If you don't remember anything, how do you remember me?" Talon asked as he was immensely unconvinced. Penny stopped in her tracks; how stupid could she be?

"Look, let's just get back to MAD. 'Kay?" Penny changed the subject hurriedly as she didn't want any conflict to up-rise before she got MAD.

Talon growled as he grabbed his MAD-X out, and mumbled something underneath his breath. He pressed a button on the hologram, sending a signal for his uncle to come get him.

Talon looked back at Penny; a new flame of anger ignited in his eyes.

"No, I'm going back to MAD. You're going to taste my fists and kicks!"

Before Penny could apprehend what he said, she was attacked by the MAD henchman. She found herself knocked to the ground, but she quickly kicked herself back up onto her feet again.

"What the heck was that for, Talon?!"

A stinging pain suddenly pierced the side of her face as her head snapped to the left. Penny held her hands to the side of her face where Talon had just punched her. Anger bubbled up in the back of her throat as she glared with pure distrust and hatred at Talon.

She clenched her fists together before suddenly throwing one towards his face. The move was so unexpected that Talon couldn't move back and so she struck him right across the face. An inhuman growl came from his mouth as he pushed her away quickly, into the brick walls around them.

Penny dodged each of his punches while desperately trying to fight back more dominantly than he was. _He must be really mad if he's not quitting._ She thought quickly.

The fist fighting went on for a few minutes. Penny was still in disbelief on how much aggression Talon was putting into his fighting. It also got her wondering why he never used this aggression on her while they fought on their missions.

Suddenly, a huge bang echoed through both of their ears. Both of their eyes squeezed shut. Quickly after the bang, came a girlish scream. Penny looked back at Talon, who was clutching his left shoulder. Blood was gushing all over his hand and staining his shoulder. She realized that he had been shot.

Looking behind her, there was a police-woman. The woman held a gun towards Penny as her hands shook with fear. Her hazel eyes showed regret for firing the shot at Talon. As the gun was pointed towards her, Penny felt her heart wrench.

"Move out the way, please, miss. Was this galoot attacking you?" she asked calmly, lowering the gun. Penny's stiff posture lightened up slightly.

Looking back at Talon, he looked back at her. He was no longer mad; he was hopeful. Would she tattle him out and possibly get him killed? But maybe this was her chance to show she was trustworthy after whatever the clone had done to him before appearing at HQ? But then she got a plan.

Looking away and faking a sad sigh, Penny nodded slightly as she walked to the side of the officer. She made sure that she was at a certain angle and position for her next move. The officer flashed a smile towards Penny before lifting up the gun to shoot Talon.

Penny didn't regret what she was about to do.

She swung her foot into the air and kicked the gun out of the officer's shaking hands. Her eyes widened as she was now realizing that Penny was also an enemy to her. Instantly, she grabbed her talkie to call up for back-up.

Running towards Talon, Penny helped him stand up straight as the officer backed out of the alley.

The sound of a helicopter sounded up ahead, and sure enough, it was Dr. Claw. For once, Penny was thankful that the MAD leader had arrived.

A long ladder trailed from the helicopter, and as soon as it come close enough, Penny latched onto it and reached down to grab Talon by his good arm. Talon held onto her as he locked his legs into the ladder for better support. As they loaded on, the ladder began to retract into the helicopter.

At the worse moment, more officers that the woman had called for help came to try and stop the two teenagers. They pulled their guns out and attempted to shoot at them again. Penny moved forward, trying or somewhat attempting to shield Talon. She always put herself into danger, and she would never know why she always did.

Before any of the two agents could get shot, the ladder retreated in all the way and Penny and Talon were safe from the guns. Penny took a deep breath while looking around. She was here. Her mission was going reasonably well. Now, she just had to get onto Dr. Claw's good side.

And Talon's too if saving him didn't make things any better.


	2. Blood, Diaries, and Sneezes

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews and reads! My first IG FanFic, so everything counts right now.**

 **To the guest who suggested that I bring back the original clone of Penny: I didn't think of that. And it's a great idea! I may consider that for future chapters, depending on how the earlier chapters come out. I haven't made any official plans for the upcoming chapters yet; this chapter was written with no guidance or plans.**

 **Like I mentioned in Chapter One, this FanFic is two stories combined into one with the second being the ending, though the two stories were supposed to be written separately.  
Story One, which is taking place right now, is when Penny is undercover and Talon is attempting to get rid of her while thinking she is the actual clone but learns to get use to her again.  
Story Two is a one-shot, where Penny is disguised as the clone to trick Talon into going on a date with her, but she messes up in the end and Talon finds out.  
You can see why it's better to combine them both.**

 **I also chose to combine them because Story One would make Story Two work, and because I didn't know how to end Story One.**

 **I haven't gotten to typing up the rest of the other two stories for this fandom; I may of lost the notebook I wrote them down into.**

 **ALSO: go on my profile and you'll my other accounts! I posted a Talenny video to my channel that I made when I was bored out of my mind last week.**

 **Some notes for this chapter:**

 **\- Talon will refer to Penny as "Pretty" and the clone he made of her as "Penny." Just to keep things from getting too confusing.  
\- There are a few swears in the middle of the chapter.  
**

* * *

Talon turned his glance to his aching shoulder. He was in pain and anger ran throughout his bloodstream. His cool, mint breath was unsteady as well as heavy while he looked down at the dark purple floor of his Uncle Claw's over-sized helicopter (more of a plane) that was recently added to MAD's over-sized collection of aircrafts and mobiles.

Talon felt like he was nauseous; the pain was too painful to take while having to realize that his clone had returned. The Penny clone had escaped HQ's prison and she had escaped Pretty Penny, her dumb mutt, and her painfully dumb, cyborg uncle who commonly got all the fame and recognition for doing nothing.

And the SiC to MAD had just gotten used to living without having her around to try and steal his well-earned status.

His thoughts were drifting from thought to thought until he came across one that he thought about nearly everyday.

Talon wanted to lead MAD when his Uncle Claw was murdered or captured, or died of his old age. Or if he ever decided to retire. But wasn't that obvious enough? He mentioned it almost everyday to either Penny or in his diary.

Again, his thoughts drifted.

His mum and dad had always told him about how great MAD was; and that it was the longest lasting evil corporation created so far. (Or for this generation or century.) His parents took advantage of how easy it was to inspire a young child.

But they only managed to fueled half of Talon's dream as they both died when he was fourteen. The police had finally caught up with their long, criminal past. They weren't going in so easy though, so a gun fight broke out. They managed to take down three officers, but were both shot in the head. All Talon could conclude about their deaths was that it was almost painless and instant. After their funeral, was when he was assigned to revive the organization as Second in Command to his uncle.

Snapping out of his thoughts before any emotional break downs could begin, Talon turned his attention back to the obnoxious and unwelcomed clone. His anger bubbled up in the back of his throat but he swallowed it as he calmed himself down gradually.

Penny saved him, but that didn't do anything to make things better. He would be dead right now if it hadn't of been for her, but she could've done that so his Uncle would not ruin her chances of rising in the ranks. Talon should at least take that into consideration and give her a teeny bit of recognition for it.

Penny gazed down to Talon while extending a gloved hand down to him. There was some blood stained onto her shirt from Talon being shot, but she didn't care. She was not concerned about that for the time being.

Talon gave into her though for the recognition and gratitude that he owed her. If he had not of been shot in the shoulder, he would have obviously gotten himself up off the ground. He'd take advantage of the opportunity out in front of him at the moment.

Talon reached his hand up and grabbed onto Penny's before he felt himself being pulled up onto his feet. Letting go of her hand almost instantly, he tried to stand and maintain his balance, but found himself leaning onto Penny's side a few agonizing seconds later. As he winced in slight pain, Talon missed the sight of Penny's cheeks turning a light shade of pink that beautifully light up her face.

A second or two later, Talon mumbled silently as he harshly put his weight onto her side, secretly challeging her strength.

"Thanks." His tone was no different from earlier when she appeared in the first place.

Penny held him up even though he was heavier than she had expected him to be. She struggled a reply back to him, but managed to get one out to him.

"Don't mention it."

As she tried to walk the injured henchman to the front of the helicopter where she assumed Dr. Claw would most likely be, Penny prepared herself.

What was she going to say?

She has never met Dr. Claw, even in her years of shielding her ridiculously dumb uncle, which was a good thing. Who know's what would happen to her if she was put in front an evil mastermind that could get away with anything he wants?

Her evil clone, though, saw Dr. Claw before she saw Talon or anyone else.

How did she react? Did she just play it cool or did she act like a completely dumb muppet?

Penny lied that her memory had been erased and Talon, unfortunately, outsmarted her seconds later, so the option of playing "amnesia" was not available to her anymore.

Up ahead, was a door that no doubtly lead to the controls of the helicopter.

Penny moved towards it with Talon slowing her down as he once again, seethed and groaned under his breath. Penny had to admit that is was annoying as well as unfortunate for both her and Talon.

Shivers and chills ran up Penny's spine as she really couldn't stand to hear the pain her arch-nemesis and crush was going through. She sometimes forgot about how much she cared for him even though he put her in near-death situations almost daily. Even after Talon betrayed her (and HQ) when they first met, Penny still found that she could not stay mad at him.

There was something in his brown eyes that she didn't quite catch onto, but they forced her to forgive him. Or at least let him off.

Maybe it was because he was undeniably handsome?

Penny snapped out of her deep thoughts as she heard the door in front of her creak open slowly. Talon lifted his head from Penny's shoulders as he heard the door too. No one was there to see at eye-level, but when both of them looked down, they found that MADcat had pushed open the door.

The possibility of it being a ghost had been put down to rest.

While Talon seemed to smile at the cat's presence, Penny held back a sneeze. MADcar looked at her weirdly with her yellow eyes until she realized why she had sneezed.

Turning her gaze over to Talon, MADcat couldn't see any thing of an injured shoulder. But her dull facial features change to one of worry when she noticed that there was blood dripping onto the ground next to Penny's lace-up boots.

Taking a step back, she hissed and meowed loudly to catch her master's attention.

"What now, MADcat?! You meow for attention every five minutes!"

Penny felt her body stiffen; the deep voice was more terrifying in person than it was on Talon's audio calls.

Talon moved off of Penny's support, now leaning against the frame of the doorway. How tempted she was to grab onto Talon for protection was not too funny or cute in her perspective.

Penny's shoulder was now slightly moist with Talon's blood, which meant that her clothes for her entire mission were stained. Now she hoped that she would be provided an extra pair of attire for the remainder of her horrible mission.

Talon groaned as MADcat's eyes fixed on his wounded shoulder. The uneven fur along her back spiked up in alarm.

Another hiss came from the loyal companion as she scrambled onto the chair in front of the control system of the helicopter.

"MADcat, can't you see that I-!"

"Uncle Claw!" The SiC cut his blabbing uncle off with a stern, but childish yell as he leant back onto Penny for support. Some of all of his remaining adrenaline put into yelling for his uncle's attention before his pet would scratch him one.

Penny watched silently as the claw that she and Talon fought over in the jungle village extended towards the controls and pushed a button, which she assumed was the Autopilot, because the throne-like chair spun around to meet the teenagers.

"What?!"

Talon lightly waved his shoulder into his uncle's view and smirked at the reaction he got.

"Talon, I told you to steal a fucking diamond from that jewelry store for my mother, and you come back with a bleeding bullet-hole in your wimpy shoulder?!" The MAD leader fumed at the fourteen-year-old.

"Well, it's not my fault that the MCPD finally decided to do their job and attempt to track me down!"

"Yes, it is!"

"No, it is not!"

As Talon and his uncle scolded at each other, Penny was still shocked by being right in front of the evil mastermind that her Uncle Gadget has countlessly tried to defeat. Dr. Claw really hadn't changed much from the last time Penny had seen him. His face was a little different from when she was a younger girl, mainly from the aging process in men. But it was pretty low, which could be blamed on being frozen in Antarctic for a few years.

"Err, whatever. Just stop oozing blood all over my new helicopter's carpet! Do you know how much it is to get a helicopter its own custom carpet?!" Dr. Claw finally gave up on the useless argument that had started between the two of them.

"No, I don't know. And I don't care; that's your business! Anyway, if you haven't noticed or if you're just blind, the Penny clone that I regret making, is back." Talon replied before MADcat hopped off her master's lap and walked towards a door not too far from the controls. Too small to reach the doorknob (unlike earlier), she meowed at Penny for help.

Penny turned her attention towards MADcat, but Dr. Claw's sudden change of tone caught her off guard and prevented her from walking anywhere. So did her paralysis.

"Finally! Someone else to assign evil missions to, other than hairgel guy. She got closer to destroying Inspector Gadget than you ever have!"

Penny smiled when he referred to Talon as "hairgel guy", but quickly made it disappear as Talon growled unhappily and glared towards her.

"Yeah, well. Because she looked like Pretty Penny, she fooled the dumb piece of machinery that HQ calls an Inspector!" he glared at Penny, who only looked away for her defence although she was offended by what Talon had referred to her uncle by.

"If my shoulder wasn't punctured with a fucking bullet, she would be on the ground with more than just black lips and pupils."

Penny immediately let go of Talon, leaving him to hold himself up with his newfound energy and aggression. Her heart felt like it had been clenched by the talons of a owl and she was his prey: a helpless little mouse.

 _Wow…_

"Talon!"

Dr. Claw growled as the spikes on his metal claw emerged from their sockets. "First, staining my carpet. Now, disrespecting the girl who saved your stupid ass?"

MADcat nodded from the other side of the trio while Talon only rolled his brown eyes.

"Do you forget that she tried to take over my status as Second in Command?" he asked, glaring at Penny again.

"I remember. I'm surprised you haven't tried to overthrow me yet, judging by what you write in your "evil" diary."

MADcat and Penny snickered as Talon's cheeks went red in embarrassment. "I-I don't have a diary!"

"Sure...then what's this I'm holding?" On que, Dr. Claw brought open a dark blue book with Talon's name printed onto it in (surprisingly neat) cursive handwriting. A ribbon placed in-between two pages hung from the ragged and crumpled pages.

Penny seemed to of taken a little bit of attention to the book, noticing it was of HQ merchandise because of the logo near the bottom of the corner.

 _How'd he get one of those?_

Talon lunged forward to grab onto his diary, but forgot his busted shoulder and cried in pain as the quick jolt of his body sent electrifying waves of pain throughout his left arm. But that didn't stop him from his attempt. Just as the tips of his purple gloves grazed the cover of his diary, Dr. Claw threw it into Penny's hands.

Penny froze as she held the book. Did she pass it back to Dr. Claw or give it to Talon?

Dr. Claw answered her question before she could ask him.

"Keep it from him and maybe I'll give you his spot as Second in Command. I'd rather have you rule this organization than an immature teen like him."

Penny held the diary over her head to keep it from Talon's reach, although he was slightly taller than her. Mostly because of his hair. She nodded in response to the MAD leader; frightened by his sudden forwardness towards her.

Dr. Claw turned around and turnt off the autopilot as he resumed himself to steering the mobile. "MADcat, get Talon the MAD first-aid kit for his shoulder. I don't want anymore blood on this huge helicopter."

She nodded before walking away from the doorway that lead to a separate seating area to grab the first-aid box or at least signify to Penny where the box was.

Penny secured Talon's precious diary into her pant's waistband before walking towards MADcat. She sneezed, as usual, but MADcat took no offence to it as she only flashed a fangy smile to the "clone."

Hauling the box in her arms, Talon had already walked through the door that MADcat had been waiting at during their conversation of teasing and arguing. Penny gulped as she hoped the cheeky agent wasn't hiding to attack her.

Don't worry about that. His shoulder will stop him in the act and you'll be unharmed, Penny.

MADcat hopped back onto her owner's lap as Penny walked through the door cautiously. Checking both sides of the room for him, only to see he was sat in one of the three chairs. His head was hung low; as if he were emotionally hurt.

Once again, her heart ached to see him like this, but it always ached whenever he tried to potentially kill her. How she liked him for his stubborn and countless injuries earned off of Talon, Penny did not know.

She sat next to his left side and set the heavy box down on the ground in front of them. Still, Talon didn't move.

Both of them sat quiet for a few seconds before Penny asked in a hushed tone. "Can...I get a look at your shoulder?"

Talon glared at her while coldy replying. "I can't get my shirt off with my shoulder in this state, Penn."

Penny nodded awkwardly before opening the first-aid box. She looked through the contents for fabric-cutting scissors and eventually found a pair. Pulling them out, she gently took the section of uniform around Talon's shoulder into her hands. "You don't mind if I cut your shirt...do you?"

Talon shook his head, "I've got other pairs; go ahead."

Penny exhaled before she sniped off the shoulder sleeve of his uniform.

Talon bite his lip to somewhat ease the pain off of his shoulder, but found it wouldn't do anything. Penny nearly stopped breathing as she discarded the bloodied fabric into a nearby trashcan. The damage Talon had taken to his shoulder was truly brutal.

This was going to hurt like a mother****er.

* * *

 **I know the episode Double O'Penny came before a few other episodes that are more popular and more commonly mentioned, but just imagine that this takes after Low Speed and Tool Russia with Love to make things easier for both me and you.**

 **Leave a review about this chapter and I'll get going on the next chapter and possibly a video for them! (If I feel like it)**


	3. Higher Than the Helicopter

**A/N: I got random with this chapter, but not too random as I decided that full-on seriousness in a FanFic takes all the fun out of reading it. So, while Penny has to administer some first-aid to a stubborn MAD boy, she also is pretty one-sided herself when she thinks she knows that there's a bullet in Talon.**

 **I don't know what the inside of Dr. Claw's castle looks like, so I made my own design and opinion of the interior for this chapter.**

 **Maybe there will be a Talenny kiss in an up-coming chapter?**

 **Maybe the clone will come back in a later chapter because Inspector Gadget foolishly releases her?**

 **Will Talon see behind Penny's disguise?**

 **Will he admitt somethings to her?**

 **Ha, that's all for the up-coming chapters after this one. In this one, Talon gets high and passes out. Read on to find out how and why ;) Another reason why this is rated T story. (I put in morphine, Oxycontin, and fentynal in this one; all pain relieving drugs. No weed, cocaine, or heroine in this one.) I didn't think I'd ever be putting in a chapter like this.**

 **My internet history makes me look like a criminal on drugs.**

 **UP-COMING HAITUS: Now, this is not my decision and I do not have a choice. I'm not even sure when or if this will take affect. My nana is a nurse, and has an exam coming up. She told me how she'll be using her computer (the one I'm using now) for studying. Which means, she may be taking it with her to her work on her night shifts, which is when I usually get to go on it.**

 **This haitus could happen, depending on how my nana decides to study. If she leaves it home some nights, I'll be able to get on. So DON'T expect me to be fully inactive!**

 **ANYWAY, read on!**

* * *

Penny's blue eyes stared at Talon's shoulder with horror and shock.

How was she supposed to do this?

If she didn't have the right tools and equipment, the best Penny could do was clean it with a disinfectant to keep it from an infection, and then bandage the gunshot wound.

And if Penny did have the right equipment, what kind of procedure is she to do to get a fucking bullet out of Talon's shoulder?

Penny couldn't just use a pair of tweezers to pull the bullet out, could she? She probably could, but not with the kind of tweezers she would use to pick at her unfortunately thick eyebrows with.

To make matters worse, Penny didn't even have her pair with her, which meant her eyebrows were going to get out of control for as long as she is here.

But Penny did have that horrible black lipstick in her uniform pocket, along with half a packet of grape gum.

After snapping out of her thoughts, Penny found that she had to look away from Talon's gunshot wound quickly as she felt herself quiver in a sickening way.

Her stomach was weakening very quickly at the thought of how she was going to get this done. Penny is known by her Uncle Gadget and Brain for a weak stomach in some occasions, and this was one of them.

The pain Talon must be in right now put Penny through more fear and remorse. A stupid suspicion that he would die from it came into her mind, and it was even possible if she messed up and Talon got an infection.

Penny shuffled and searched through the first-aid box, pulling out a fitting gauze and a large roll of wrapping bandages that almost took up most the space in the box. That was when the sight of a black bag, that was roughly the size of the bottom of the box, came into Penny's view. A strip of duct tape was plastered across the front of the bag, reading "painkillers and drugs" in black Sharpie marker.

Penny wasn't too shocked by the label as it was something to expect from MAD. But she assumed that by drugs, it meant that they were hospital specialized painkilling drugs (and illegal to have without a prescription).

Penny hoped that she wouldn't find any other drugs, like weed, crack, or heroine, though she knew that she could come back for them to prevent Dr. Claw or Talon (or even MADcat) from getting their hands (or paws) on it.

But that was, if there was anything in the black bag.

She pulled the bag out and lifted it onto her lap, unzipping the zipper that trailed along the sides of the top.

Just as Penny was going to lift the lid up, she felt Talon reach his right hand over to her hand and push it down with force. Penny, halted herself and sat in her seat.

"Put that back in the box." Talon growled to her in a low and serious voice.

Looking into his eyes, Penny saw the worry and temptation that Talon tried to hide in his eyes. She couldn't tell whether he was tempted by the bag or by her. Penny didn't say anything, but gently pulled Talon's hand off of hers.

"You need something to take the edge off of that pain." She said to him as she was just about to lift the lid again, but stopped herself this time. Penny knew this would take some convincing.

"But that's Uncle Claw's personal stash, and he'll get really mad if you touch it!"

Penny listened to Talon and removed her hands from the lid. She went to put it back down, but lifted the lid anyways as curiosity got the best of her. Talon gasped silently as he caught view of what Penny saw.

Inside the bag was tylenols and advils, many empty and unused syringe needles, a few tubes of morphine sulfate, Oxycontin, and fentanyl patches. There were morphine patches, tubes with liquid morphine inside (a tiny needle attached to the side), and a powdered form of the pain reliever. There were also Oxycontin pills, and very few patches of fentanyl. As a bonus, there was a pair of forceps, and they were perfectly sized.

Talon snapped out of his shock and whispered to her again. "You've had your fun, now shut the box, Penn."

That was when Penny smirked. Under the lid of the bag was another note, reading "use only in case of emergency."

"Okay, Talon. If you insist I do, though it says right there that it's for emergencies only. But, I guess you're shoulder isn't much of an emergency anyways. What a fool I am." Penny smiled as she shut the bag and zipped it up again.

Talon looked at her with wide-eyes and quickly spoke up.

"Aw, c'mon, Penny! Are you really gonna do this to me?!"

Penny smirked as she shook her head no in response. On her left, was an alcohol wipe from earlier that was out of Talon's sight.

"Kay, fine! Put me on some Oxy or morphine! Anything to make this agonizing pain go away!" Talon begged like a dog as he endlessly emphasized his shoulder.

"I don't know…" Penny replied in a playful voice.

As she was talking, she was trying hard to open the wipe up. She knew Talon too well to know that he wouldn't let her clean his wound. Those wipes stung like Hell, and Talon was stubborn like that.

"Please…? I'll...uh...I'll get you some medication for your cat allergy!"

At that, Penny's eyes widened. She had also gotten the wipe out of it's packet. But having something like that for her mission would make being around an evil cat more easier to take.

"Okay, fine. I'll give you some morphine. And maybe some Oxycontin." Penny gave in before she whipped her left hand to his shoulder and pressed the wipe against his wound with pressure. The pressure sent blood flying onto her uniform, and she no longer cared about that anymore.

Penny, MADcat, and Dr. Claw cringed and covered their ears as Talon screamed the most girly scream they have ever heard.

* * *

MADcat had come into the room nearly ten minutes ago. Penny had drugged Talon with the morphine and Oxycontin she promised him, and the outcome was something worth laughing at apart from focusing on pulling out a bloody bullet.

Talon was higher than the helicopter.

Penny found herself holding in her sneezes due to MADcat's presence, but that didn't bother her too much at the moment. She also managed to keep herself from throwing up her own "hairballs" as she had the forceps in the bullet's trial. This mission was going to toughen her up better than HQ could ever do.

At least MADcat was only in here for Talon's hilarious scenes.

As Talon was higher than a kite, Penny and MADcat found themselves sharing some sort of bond as they watched over the MAD henchman.

One moment, he was sleepy, the next, he was blabbing about Pretty Penny, or mocking his Uncle Claw, and then the next, he'd break into a fit of endless laughter.

Though, Penny couldn't hide her blush whenever Talon would confidently mentioned that she was a beautiful demon that caused him pain in the middle of all this, but she put it off as being on the morphine to keep herself from getting distracted or flattered.

Talon also wouldn't stop moving himself. His arms would flail, or he would try to pull Penny into a death-hug, or even try to pet MADcat, who'd only tear his gloves apart. Thankfully, they guarded Talon from receiving any scratches.

Penny had the forceps in the hole as deep as she could get it without her fingertips touching his swollen shoulder, but she didn't feel a thing. No bone or metal.

How deep was the bullet in? Was it at the very other end of his shoulder? Or...could it of possibly...exited?

Quickly checking the other side of Talon's shoulder, Penny facepalmed her forehead really hard before she sent an angry glare at Talon, who was smiling at her drunkenly.

"Haha, beauty. Stop hittin' on yourself, that's my job!"

Penny's fists clenched together in true rage and her blue eyes were like a visual poison. MADcat clued in on what happened a second later and only snickered at Penny's foolishness.

Penny didn't even laugh or blush at what Talon had just said to her. She was too angry to even hear him at the moment.

 _Talon did this on purpose! He knew the bullet went out the other side and so he begged me to put him on morphine and Oxycontin! I should've gave him fucking Tylenol instead, that son of a bitch! I should've known that the fucking bullet would have exited the other side!_

Penny was just about to punch Talon right across his handsome face, but instead, she let out a heavy sigh of defeat.

Penny couldn't bring herself to do it. She was so used to Talon dodging and she missing, that she knew if she punched him now, he would actually get hurt. Plus, MADcat was in the room, and if Dr. Claw found out, who know's what would happen to her.

Though, he was careless, Penny didn't want to risk anything on her first day.

Penny breathed in deeply before telling herself that she should have cleaned both sides of his shoulders anyways, so then she wouldn't be in this type of mess and would've found out earlier that there was an exit hole.

"Next time, Talon…" Penny muttered miserably as she grabbed the gauze from earlier to put it on the front of his shoulder. She would need to find another one to do the same before she could wrap the bandaging around the entire area.

Penny would be mad at Talon later. He was too drugged up to understand anything she said if she said anything.

Speaking of Talon, he had just fallen asleep in his place.

MADcat found herself getting bored now that he was asleep, and so she walked back into the control room to get comfort and attention from her owner.

Suddenly, as if all the events were going by in a hurry, Penny found that the helicopter they were in had landed.

This was when Penny's stomach clenched so tightly that she almost felt sick. She must be at MAD castle, or at one of the MAD hide-outs. Wherever it was, she hoped she wouldn't walk into too many traps laid down by Talon or Dr. Claw.

Penny needed to be able to walk if she was going to get this mission done without being exposed or killed in the process.

"Clone girl, get out here. You too, annoying nephew." Dr. Claw's voice ruptured through the helicopter as he opened the exiting door and stepped out.

Looking at her work, Penny quickly grabbed the gauzes and bandages that she failed to make time for.

 _I'll finish off inside._

Lifting the sleeping Talon up from his seat, Penny hauled him over her back. She had gotten used to his weight from earlier, and now, surprisingly, found him lighter. Maybe it was because he was asleep like a cute little baby? Only babies suck their thumbs, right?

Yeah, so that meant Talon was just an immensely overgrown newborn. That explains his childish screams and unusually perky ears.

"Ehh…" Penny felt his warm breath on the back of her neck. "Just..five more hours...Uncle C…" She blushed lightly as her insides wanted to squeal.

Talon wasn't just cute when he was sleeping; he was totes adorkable!

Slowly, Penny began to walk towards helicopter's exit while mentally and emotionally preparing herself for her temporary residence at MAD castle. Would she get her foot chopped off? Or would she end up experiencing that "shark tank" that Talon constantly complained about on her Uncle Gadget's missions?

She stepped out of the helicopter to be met with Dr. Claw and MADcat, who snickered at Talon's form. Dr. Claw cringed slightly when he caught sight of the hole in his nephew's shoulder, though.

"Yeesh, no wonder he was cranky." the MAD leader stated, earning a meow of agreement from MADcat. His face showed an immense disgust towards the wound.

Penny laughed lightly as she adjusted Talon on her back before he could slip off like melting butter in a frying pan.

"Wh-Where do I take him?" Penny asked in a restricted amount of volume. Now her energy for this mission was being depleted quicker than she hoped it would be.

Of course, by Talon. Like always.

"To his room. You know where it is." Dr. Claw replied, turning his back from Penny to the entrance of the huge castle.  
"Actually, I don't..know where his room his." Penny piped up as she followed behind him.

Dr. Claw sighed annoyingly as he mumbled in an almost annoyed tone.

"The last door on the left in the left hallway. The old morgue before he arrived. I kept my ex-girlfriend in there when she threatened to leave me."

Both MADcat and Penny felt shivers run down their spines.

"Oh, umm...thanks. Sounds like I really needed to hear that." Penny replied while walking into the castle. It was huge. Almost luxurious, but not quite. The furniture was old and dated, but in mint condition, like no one had ever sat in it. Though, there was no dust.

The walls were painted a dark purple, and decorated by paintings of MADcat, and other mystery members of the MAD bloodline. In one of the paintings, though, Dr. Claw was stood with someone who looked a lot like Talon, but older.

A glass chandelier hung over the wide opening that separated the left hallway from the right hallway. In the middle of the opening, were two, large doors.

"My lair behind those doors. Watch out for the traps put down by Talon. He nearly killed MADcat once with mouse poison."

MADcat looked away from her owner with guilt as she rolled her yellow eyes. Penny only stood where she was with amazement for the design in this castle. For a villain, Dr. Claw had some seriously neat things.

"Also, you'll be sleeping in the guest bedroom until I can get MADcat to clean one up for you. It's across from Talon's room. Keep it tidy, or else it's the shark tank for you." Dr. Claw threatened before he and his cat descended to his lair, leaving Penny to haul Talon to his room and finish wrapping up his arm herself.

Penny gulped silently as she walked down the left hallway.

 _So that does shark tank exist._

The thought of Talon with wet hair suddenly came to mind, making her blush as dark as the red on her uniform.

The hallway wasn't too long, but Penny found difficulty in just trying to walk through it. Maybe because of the extra weight on her shoulders.

Eventually, she found the ending of the hallway, and a door that anyone could tell it belonged to Talon.

The door had a picture of Penny on, with a sign next to it reading "No Pennies Allowed!" Next to that, were stickers of random rocket booster brands and the MAD symbol carved into the wood.

Opening the door, the smell of chicken noodles and sweat came into her nose. The room was a mess. Socks, shirts, and pants were scattered all over the dresser instead of being folded inside. Talon's bed was full of pillows, but the blanket was stained with a number of unknown substances that Penny didn't even what to think about what they could be. There was a target painted on the wall with gum plastered on the bull's eye.

 _What a past time…_

Penny headed towards his bed while she tried not to trip over anything stupid that was ditched on the floor.

"Hey, Penn. Didn't you read the sign?"

With sudden strength, Penny threw Talon into his bed as I scream escaped her lips. Talon burst out laughing as he was laid on his back. Penny growled as she clenched her fists.

"Talon!"

"What? Did I scare you? I have the right to since it's my room!" Talon smirked at her as he grabbed the gauzes and bandages from her hands.

"I guess I should say thank you for the little high you put me on, but I'm not going to. You should punish yourself for not using your HQ training properly." Looking at his shoulder, he didn't show any emotion towards it.

"You ungrateful, little shit!" Penny growled at him, grabbing him by his shirt and growled in his face. Talon didn't flinch; he just rolled his eyes.

"Pretty Penny has never used that language towards me. Did you become more advanced than her, all of a sudden, Penn?"

Penny slapped her arch-nemesis across the face angrily, and Talon growled back. "Still as feisty as Pretty Penny is, but I hope you know…" he paused, pulling out a gum-gun from under his pillow, "this means war!"

He fired at Penny, taking her by surprise. Surprisingly, though, he missed at such a close distance. That was when Penny realized that he had tried to shoot her with his left arm. He must've felt something, but his expression showed the same one she saw on the helicopter after putting a small dose of morphine into him.

He's still high…

But then, she was fed up. Penny was done with Talon's goofing around now. It was nearly 11:00 o'clock at night, and she was tired. She wanted sleep. She wanted to send an email to Chief Quimby on her progress in this mission. She needed to keep in touch with HQ without Talon or Dr. Claw around.

Maybe she was homesick? Maybe she missed Brain's sarcasm and attitude? Her Uncle Gadget's foolishness? Maybe Penny missed her bathtub?

Walking out of his room and shutting the door, Penny walked across the hall to the next door.

Opening the door, the guest room was way tidier, compared to Talon's room. The bedroom smelt of lavender and vanilla. Dare she say it was fresher than MAD boy's hair gel.

Shutting and locking the door, Penny flopped onto the bed too tired to turn on her Code-X or even pull the covers over herself.

* * *

The Next Day

Penny opened her blue eyes to the sound of someone banging against it.

"Penn, wake up! Uncle Claw wants us!"

Penny snapped back into reality, realizing she was at MAD castle. Sitting up and stretching her arms, she looked at herself in the mirror from across the bed.

Her ponytails has come loose and her bangs were flung upwards, and the horrid black lipstick has smudged all over her face.

I look like that Barbie doll I put in the oven when I was five…

The banging against her door continued, and Penny growled in annoyance.

"Alright, you can stop now! I'm awake!" She screamed so loud that it echoed throughout the narrow hallway.

Penny heard a slight snicker from the other side of the door before she heard footsteps.

Before she left her new room, she freshened herself up. The only thing that she couldn't freshen up was her blood-stained uniform.

Penny made turned at the end of the hallway into the opening that led to Dr. Claw's lair. Being careful not to set off any traps, she found herself at the large, wooden doors and pulled it open.

Penny walked into Dr. Claw's lair, to see that Talon had already gotten there. She gave him a light smile, despite his rude wake-up call, but she only got a menacing glare in return.

MADcat was sat on the red, illuminating keyboard that lit the lair up. Everyone but Dr. Claw seemed to be staring at her, and it was intimidating.

Dr. Claw waited until Penny was right next to Talon before he spoke.

"I have a mission for you two."

* * *

 **Well, that was a long, tiring chapter. Word count is at 3,855. Longest chapter so far!**

 **Also, I caught my baby rat, Millie, watching the show when I was pulling an all-nighter to do a marathon of Inspector Gadget. Even got it on video! I'll put it on Twitter if anyone wants to see...?**

 **Review if you want a Talenny scene in Chapter Five (or the next one)!**


	4. Murderer-in-Training

**A/N: I am really, really, really SORRY if these chapters are boring, but next chapter...Talenny overload! Not sure how it'll escalate, but it will. Next chapter may feature an accidental kiss, confession, or melt down! (Or even all three ;0) Don't expect it though, because I am known for teasing people.**

 **It may even end up as Talon finally putting what he thinks she did behind him, and they become best friends. Talenny for sure though, next chapter!**

 **I was determined to get this chapter up before Tuesday for some strange reason.**

 **Anywho, tiny bit of Talenny in this...somewhere.**

* * *

Penny's heart leaped a few skips the moment she heard those words come from Dr. Claw.

This was perfect! There was a possible chance of getting into contact with Brain or even Chief Quimby, if he decided to tag along just in case.

Though, it did hurt her slightly that she couldn't risk going near her Uncle Gadget, since that would no doubtly send him into a fit of confusion. It would definitely help with blowing her cover to Talon and failing her mission.

That was the last thing Penny needed right now. It was bad enough having to wear a blood-stained HQ uniform.

But the HQ agent wasn't shocked. And if she was by any chance, she knew that she would have to hide it to lower any of Dr. Claw or Talon's suspicions.

If they had any.

Penny did contain half of the excitement that she rattled through her bloodstream, though. She kept the serious face she remembered seeing on the clone's face a few months ago.

She looked over to Talon, who seemed to be just as excited as she was, behind his usual poker-faced expression that Dr. Claw saw him by.

As Penny subconsciously gazed at the handsome MAD boy, Talon sighed heavily in sarcasm.

It was obvious to Penny that he was back to normal since being on that morphine and Oxycontin that he didn't need. She lied to herself that never wanted to see him high like that again, because it was cute and distracting. Along with overly tiring and exhausting. As cute as it is, Talon was a pain in the ass when he was like that, and Penny had to make sure it never happened again.

Just a precaution so that she won't be aborting her mission anytime soon.

Following that sarcastic sigh from Talon, he spoke up to his Uncle Claw in an even more sarcastic tone.

"What's the plan now, Uncle C? Are we going to turn MADcat into a fuckin' bird so that another feline can chase her until she gets all those feathers ripped off? Just like you said last week?"

Dr. Claw slammed his claw down on the armrest of his throne suddenly, screaming "Silence!" to the obnoxiously sarcastic teenager. MADcat jumped off the keyboard and onto the floor, cowering at her master's sudden outrage.

Penny nearly shrieked in sudden fear, but tightly held it in as she hopped out of the loving daze that she had focused on Talon.

Talon stepped back as he seemed to up jumped too. His arms went up in defensive surrender. The fear of the shark tank coming to his surface.

"Okay, okay! Maybe next week, because I would really love to see that happen!"

MADcat hissed at Talon, scratching his rocket boots with one of her sharp claws. Talon almost wanted to kick her for that.

"How about...never?! Talon, I swear, mention that again and I'll make sure to drown you in that shark tank the next time I open it!"

Penny stood still during the loud yelling being exchanged between the two, and she was secretly scared that Dr. Claw may turn to her and start insulting her in his fit of rage.

No wonder Talon was always in a bad mood at the beginning of his missions, but brightened up into a good mood when he was around Penny.

Dr. Claw roughly cleared his throat as Talon stood next to his abusive uncle, gulping with fear and nervousness while putting on an angry face. MADcat hopped back onto his lap, curling up into a ball.

"Now, back to the mission." he growled while doing a few spins on his chair, and ended up facing the two teenagers when the chair came to a stop.

"HQ is probably searching for you." he glared over at Penny, who straightened her back and stood as still as Talon was standing.

"Loosen up, kiddo. That's a good thing, because Inspector Gadget and his niece, Pen..uh..Pencil will be searching for you. And that dumb mutt."

Talon facepalmed from Dr. Claw's mistake, "It's Penny! Not 'Pencil'! How many times do I have to tell you this for it get in your thick head?!"

Dr. Claw rolled his eyes at Talon's correction and continued.

"Go punch a wall, kid. Penny, if we put a tracking device on you, they'll follow that signal…falling into the trap that Talon will be setting up!" He bursted into a loud fit of evil laughter, disturbing MADcat once again.

Penny found that she actually kind of liked the plan, while she was fully aware of the dangers that it instantly put her family and HQ in. It was actually smarter than all of the other plans that Dr. Claw or Talon have previously thought of.

Though, Penny knew she would find a way to unintentionally sabotage the plan sooner or later, and that her Uncle Gadget wasn't going to be captured anytime soon.

Talon, who had his anger immediately washed away and was now in his usual good mood, looked over to Penny with a smirk, growling to her in some sort of playful tone. "And guess who's in charge of this impossibly good mission that I underestimated so badly that you have no idea…?"

Penny rolled her eyes.

"You?"

Of course, Talon was the one in charge of pulling off MAD missions that always failed because of his foolishness. He always was in charge, and always would be as far as she was concerned.

Just as Talon was going to fistbump, Dr. Claw spoke up.

"Actually...the last time I gave this clone a mission, she got closer to destroying Gadget than we ever have." Dr. Claw had a smirk plastered across his face that Talon did not like at all.

MADcat smiled at Penny, which was unusually friendly, but it was also half of a mischievous smirk.

Penny took no threat or worry to it though as her focus was back to Talon and Dr. Claw, Talon seemed to gazing at his uncle with anger, with a side of confused fear. Dr. Claw gazed back at him with nothing but evil, and no remorse or regret.

Penny jumped to conclusions that she would be in charge of the mission, and even she didn't like it. She wasn't sure if it was a good idea that Dr. Claw put her in charge or if it was a bad one.

"Penny's in charge of this one."

And...he said it.

Penny quickly looked away as Talon burst into a fit of growls and snarls, far worse than MADcat's attitude towards him.

"Uncle C! No fair! That's not fucking fair! I'm your nephew, where's your goddamn respect?!"

"Watch your language, young man! And yes, it's fair because she'll most likely come closer to succeeding, unlike you!" Dr. Claw snarled back. MADcat, in the middle of the two, cringed from their voices.

"I've come close like her, too!" Talon growled angrier, now glaring at Penny. "If the real Penny wasn't around to be the pain in my adorable ass, Gadget would've been destroyed months ago!"

 _It's true..._

Penny thought to herself.

 _I'm the only reason Uncle Gadget is still alive. He'd be dead for years by now if I didn't solve every case for him._

Realizing the facial expression on her must've changed, Penny threw away her bitter thoughts and quickly let a devilish smirk take its place across her lips.

"Yeah, and tell me why you've never killed her instead of putting her in a temporary trap? Wouldn't that increase your chances?" Dr. Claw snickered as his tone darkened at the foul word that Talon couldn't possibly do to Penny.

Penny's heart rate increased slightly and her stomach tightened in pain at the thought of her crush murdering her, and then her Uncle Gadget.

 _He wouldn't do that. He couldn't. Talon and I don't...really hate each other, do we? No. Penny, stop it with those thoughts. Talon won't kill you. The worse he could do is give you a black eye. No biggie...right?_

Talon seemed to look at his Uncle Claw with shock.

 _I can't kill Pretty Penny! I can't! Or can I?_

Suddenly, the nephew smirked, a tempting look painted into his eyes and lips.

"Well, Uncle C. You never told me that you wanted me to murder people." He emphasized those words.

Dr. Claw seemed surprised at the reply. Would he actually do good as super villain if he murdered? Dr. Claw knew that was how he proved himself to his mother before she retired from head of MAD. Maybe this was Talon's ticket to gaining more respect?

But, Dr. Claw changed the subject, leaving it for another time and day. The topic was too serious for right now, because this mission wasn't as serious as it should be.

"Penny, what's all over your shirt?" He asked her. Talon gaped at his Uncle Claw in shock, before growling and turning to Penny's shirt.

MADcat turned her head towards the dried, brown splotches of blood all over Penny's HQ uniform. Her cheeks turned red in embarrassment as everyone stared at her, which was really scary for the undercover agent.

"U-Uh...Talon's blood from that gunshot wound…?" She replied in a question that made it look like she was lying.

Talon snickered, mumbling under his breath in a dirty tone. "I've left my mark."

Dr. Claw ignored the statement, "Yeesh. Makes you look like a slob."

Penny poker-faced at the offence, "Thanks." She flashed a quick glare at Talon for his earlier remark.

"Talon, give her one of your spare uniforms. I'll get MAD-kitty to search for that uniform for her...before that pesky niece outsmarted her."

Talon walked off, almost in a hurry, without saying a word. But Penny could tell that he wasn't impressed to be sharing his clothes with her.

 _How are Talon's clothes supposed to fit on me?! He's taller and boy clothes don't usually fit on girls, do they?_ Penny wondered as MADcat hopped off of Dr. Claw's lap to brush against her feet.

Unsure of exactly what to do, Penny kneeled down and brushed her back that consisted of surprisingly soft fur.

But then came a sneeze. A painful one, and it frightened MADcat to the point where she hopped back onto his lap.

"Sorry…" Penny muttered towards the cat, who was now glaring at her.

At that moment, Talon came back into the lair with a fresh suit in his hands. Shoving them into her arms, he gave her a threat quietly. "Make them smell like a girl, I'll make you smell like my socks!"

Penny rolled her eyes, "Stop worrying, murderer-in-training."

"Enough!" Dr. Claw broke the argument before Talon could throw a hard punch at Penny. "Penny, get changed! Talon, anymore out of you and your new bedroom will be the shark tanks. Nice and wet for you."

Penny walked off quickly at Dr. Claw's command, mostly avoiding Talon.

What was it going to take to earn respect off of him? Considering the respect she earned off of Dr. Claw was more than what Talon received.

* * *

After being given a pair of rocket boots of her own, Penny and Talon sped through the air to a nearby building that ran storage locker rentals.

The plan was to place Penny with a tracker. She would walk near HQ, to alert Chief Quimby and Inspector Gadget, starting the chase after her. Penny would lead them to the storage facility and disappear behind the gates while Talon would be in disguise as an employer. He'd then lead them to the storage locker that Penny dropped her tracker in, and then when they were in, either Talon or Penny could trap them in. Leaving them to starve or Dr. Claw to pick them up as hostages.

The rest was up to Dr. Claw, as the two teenagers had no say in what happened to them. Probably death or endless torture.

But Penny wasn't going to let that happen.

Sometime during the mission, she would find a way to sabotage it. No matter how the risks required to take, she would keep her Uncle Gadget and Brain safe.  
During or before sabotaging the plan, she would also have to have a quick chit-chat with with Brain, just so that he could send a message to Chief Quimby for her.

The entire situation put so much stress upon her, Penny had to make sure that she didn't crack underneath the pressure. She could do this, and she had to if she wanted her innocent Uncle Gadget to live another day without any harm done.

"Penny, snap out of whatever daze you're in, because we're at HQ." Talon snarled at her in a cold tone as he bumped into her purposely.

Luckily, because of the flight training course that Penny took a few months back prior to this mission, the harsh shove didn't cause her to suddenly crash or plummet to the ground, but merely put her off her flying course.

Smiling triumphantly, Penny smiled playfully. "Oh, shut up, Talon. It's obvious for anyone to see why Dr. Claw can't seem to like you."  
Talon growled again, almost like MADcat. "Why can't you just shut up with your smartass remarks, Penn? Does the world suddenly revolve around you now?"

That made no sense in this situation.

"Gladly, and no." Penny concluded as she pulled out the tracker from her hoodie pocket, turning it on before Talon flew the other direction; heading towards the storage facility.

Now, Penny was bored. With the tracking system on, all she had to do was wait until another signal came up onto her Code-X that represented her Uncle Gadget. How long would that take, though? Hopefully, not long, as she wasn't too good at being patient.

 _I just need something to occupy my mind with...like...uh...my outfit! Yeah!_

Much to Penny's surprise, Talon's pants fit on her perfectly, apart from making her butt look like two bubbles. It was a change from her jeans that hardly complimented any of her legs' features.

The hoodie was comfortable; loose and light although it looked tight on Talon. Only downfall about it, was that there wasn't any other clothing to wear underneath it, so if Penny lost the hoodie (something that hopefully won't and never will happen), she'd be unprepared for possibly one of the most embarrassing moments of her life.  
Penny's thoughts went to remembering the dazed and surprised grin on Talon's face as she emerged from the guest bedroom in the uniform. It wasn't one of disgust or anger, but one of...admiration?

His eyes were shut halfway and his mouth hung open slightly.

Talon looked like he was just about to say something that, for once, wasn't one of his usual insults that made him unattractive, but he shut his mouth before anything could leave those lips. Those lips that urged Penny to just kiss him and act like nothing ever happened.

Suddenly, she felt the tracker in her hand vibrate.

Another signal had appeared, and it was just outside HQ!

 _Finally!_

Looking to the entrance of her agency, there they were! Uncle Gadget, Brain, and Chief Quimby.

Penny looked around the air for any sign of Talon, and there was none. So she walked over to Chief Quimby as her Uncle Gadget grabbed Brain, flying up into the air with his portable helicopter.

 _Perfect!_

Before Penny could say anything, Chief Quimby spoke to her. "Penny? What are you wearing? Where's your HQ uniform?"

"A temporary MAD uniform. My HQ one is back at the MAD lair...covered in blood." Penny replied as she looked down nervously.

"Blood? Oh, dear! I knew this mission was a bad ide-"

Penny cut him off quickly, "No, no! Not my blood, Talon's blood! He was shot by a police officer last night. He's alive, though."

Quimby sighed in relief, "Thank goodness, but what's the deal with you being here?"

"Dr. Claw is using me to lead you guys into a trap, but I'm sabotaging it. Just...stop Uncle Gadget from going to the storage place down the street if he intends on that today." Penny smiled as she smashed her tracking device, eliminating the signal on her.

Realizing that Talon had her on his tracking device, and that he might show up again, Penny freaked out a little. "I've got to go, tell Brain I say hi!"

With that, Penny flew up into the air, towards Talon, who just happened to be a few kilometres or something away.

"Penn! You better have an explanation for this!" Talon yelled at her. "WHAT happened to the signal?! Where's Inspector Gadget and Pretty Penny with her dumb mutt?!"

Penny faked her panting, putting on a act that was better than her bumblebee dance on that older mission. "Th-They almost shot me dead! They got the tracker and almost killed me…"

Talon stopped himself from yelling as his expression of anger changed to one of worry. He stopped breathing for a few seconds before exhaling heavily and fast.

"Wh...What? Are you serious?" He asked, stuttering on his quivering breath. Penny nodded at him with sorrow, now faking tears.

Talon was taken back by this. _Since when do villians cry?_ Realizing how soft he had suddenly gotten, Talon cleared his throat before throwing his attitude back on.

"Get over it, Penn. If you die, no more of you to push my buttons."

And he sped off on his rocket boots, leaving Penny to wipe away her fake tears and follow him.

 _Well, all that matters is that I saved my Uncle Gadget and Brain. And all I did was destroy the tracking device and lie that I almost died! And Talon...he's another story._

* * *

 **Review your thoughts?**


	5. You're Not the Clone!

**A/N: SO..**

 **1\. I got addicted to Animal Crossing for nearly a WEEK.**

 **2\. I went on vacation to Kimberley, BC for six days to stay with my Grandma and Grampa.**

 **3\. I got carried away with my TV. (Rick and Morty, Teen Titans Go, Star vs. Evil, and of course, Inspector Gadget.)**

 **4\. I was too lazy to type or I wasn't in the mood to.**

 **5\. I've been doing one-shot collabs for Gravity Falls on Facebook...**

 **6\. I've been trying to get chapters up for all my other stories.**

 **7\. Still trying to recover from seeing my Talenny video is at 1700 views.**

 **A lot on my plate. I make things too hard for myself.**

 **Caught my rat Millie watching IG again, and she curled up and slept after it was done. "Phone battery too low to run camera." So I couldn't take another video that was hopefully better than the previous one. I even put on a Talenny AMV with the song Boys Will be Boys and she was watching it.**

 **The plans for this story keep fucking changing. This chapter, Penny was supposed to return his diary, Talon was supposed to give her the allergy medicine and the chapter was also supposed end with a confession or kiss.**

 **None of that happened in this. So there isn't really a Talenny overload...sorry.**

 **But, this chapter was my favorite one to write. Not because it's been awhile since I've been writing, but because of...read to find out!**

* * *

Talon groaned deeply, letting out all his tented up anger His throat was tight and painfully stiff. He turned his head around enough to see behind him, only to see that Penny was farther behind him now.

She hadn't even begun to fly after him yet. The girl was too busy wiping away the fresh tears that Talon couldn't bare to stare at.

"Why don't you let them dry by themselves?" Talon asked himself sarcastically as he flew far enough for her to look like a tiny ant.

As he flew through the cool air, Talon could slowly begin to feel the turning and twisting taking place in his MAD heart, followed by an overwhelming tsunami of sudden guilt and anger flood into his bloodstream.

It was bad enough already having a painfully throbbing shoulder that almost made him want to walk around shirtless. If he was even allowed to do that back at home, he'd do all his missions shirtless.

But that would make Penny drool like a dog over me. Which wouldn't be too bad...

Talon's eyes drifted towards the ground below him, watching it drift by like raindrops. It was oddly satisfying, but it focused his eyes and mind on something else other than flying, which wasn't a good idea.

He learnt to stay focused the hard way by some wet-pooping crows. But Talon managed to get pooped on only a few times instead of a hundred times.

He shook the poopy memory away though, and Penny came back into his mind even after he shrugged her off.

 _Maybe I was too hard on her? I mean...I was in a situation like that and..she was there for me even though I punched right across the damn face! She even helped with cleaning my wound. But I tricked her into giving me that morphine and Oxy...whatever its called! God, there's nothing good in me! I really am MAD!_

 _But that's a good thing! That means I'm fit to be the future leader of the MAD organization! I'll be perfect at creating demolition and taking over the world! Screw Penny and Pretty Penny!_

But that was clearly impossible for Talon to do.

He had strong feelings towards Pretty Penny. She was beautiful, smart, and his best friend in an arch-nemesis kind of way. If one of his attempts to kill her actually pulled off one day, he'd never forgive himself and drop out of MAD.

In the heat of the moment, he'd always try to put an end to Penny's life without stopping to realize what he was doing. And when he did, he kept it to himself and played it off cool around everyone else. He loved to scare her by doing what he did, but he never wanted her to end up dead from his wrath.

But...then there was the clone.

He felt something towards her. Maybe only the visual attraction. Same look as Pretty Penny, just a little of changes to her face. She was just as beautiful as Pretty Penny.

But the Penny-clone's overall personality was ugly, in his opinion. Though, she shared the same intelligence and intellect that Pretty Penny did, it made her look like a fraud. Talon honestly thought that going on a date with an evil clone would be best thing to happen to him. Oh, how wrong he was. But it was also good because that told him that his clone was going to take away everything that he had worked hard for.

He called himself the 'best man in the world' for taking that move.

But his feelings for Pretty Penny were stronger than his feelings for the clone. He had heard about Pretty Penny from many other HQ agents the moment he had infiltrated the agency.

Talon tried to keep himself from falling for her heroicness by what he had heard from everyone else, but the moment he laid eyes on her, he knew he loved her.

But Pretty would never take him. He was a MAD agent, but so was the clone. Would she take him if he charmed her enough? Maybe, but she was a smart girl. She was just as smart as Pretty Penny.

But he wasn't desperate for girls like most boys his age were. He was a villain. Having a girlfriend would distract him from his career and would probably piss Dr. Claw off to the maximum.

If anyone, who knew him, saw him sweet-talking a girl or being a gentlemen towards one, they'd expose him and his evil reputation would be ruin.

 _Maybe that's why Dr. Claw refuses to get himself a lady?_

Talon shivered involuntarily at the thought of there being a woman kissing his Uncle.

 _But does the clone still want to become Second in Command?_

 _And if she does, she'll just use me to her advantage just like she used HQ last time. She's already gotten the individuality and respect that I've been working hard for with no progress, whatsoever! She even gets a uniform provided to her while I had to order this myself and hope to MAD that Uncle Claw would accept it. I would've been kicked onto the streets for my life if it was too "tacky" or "not up to his standards." And MADcat doesn't scratch her at all._

Minutes passed as Talon flew, now reaching the ocean point. Not too far from MAD castle.

His head had now become empty. The clone was another arch-nemesis, that was it.

 _Then why did I feel for her when she nearly got killed?_

Talon got rid of the thought quickly. Though thinking of her being disembodied was satisfying, he had to try come up with an explanation to his Uncle Claw that would keep him from being thrown into the shark tank.

And then…

That was when a sinister plan came to Talon's mind. Not only would it show Penny what it was like to be thrown in a shark tank, it would also make her regret escaping her safe prison back at HQ.

Talon's heartbeat sped up as he remembered his "other" gun that he kept underneath his bed.

A barely audible laugh came from his throat as his eyes filled with hate and determination.

 _I'll show her what rank she belongs in…_

* * *

Penny sighed as she saw the horrific MAD castle come into her view. She guessed that Talon was already there and was reporting the outcome of the mission to his Uncle Claw, who'd surely throw her in that shark tanks where'd she'd probably become human porkchops.

 _Should I just turn around and go home? Talon's made it obvious he doesn't want me around...So much for getting closer to him. Doesn't look like we'll ever be together...which is a good thing, right?_

 _Why did he have to be Dr. Claw's nephew?! And why does he have to be so fucking handsome, too? That's too much for one boy, especially a boy with perfect hair and eyes. Grrrrr! Penny, get over him! His too MAD for you, why can't you look for a boy at HQ who won't betray you the moment he gets you wrapped around his fingers?_

Turning on her Code-X, Penny found that she had messages from Brain that had been sent nearly ten minutes ago. She missed her mutt. She missed waking up to him at the end of her bed, curled up like a donut under her cotton blankets.

The guest bedroom bed had lumps in the mattress, but it didn't make it too uncomfortable to sleep in. It just made it harder adapt to and harder to catch fluent sleep.

 _I bet when I get back to my own bed, it'll be hard to adapt back to that!_

The mission had suddenly become overwhelmingly depressing for Penny. Although she got to see Chief Quimby, Brain, and Inspector Gadget for a few seconds, it didn't help the fact that Talon was determined to make her experience here a living Hell.

She'd at least be here for a week, or even more if the opportunity to steal MAD's future plots didn't come within a couple days. Not to mention that Talon may notice that on the next mission, his Pretty Penny won't be there to fight with him.

It may or may not strike up suspicions for the MAD boy, but Penny knew that his pointer finger would be pointing at her sooner or later. Her brain felt like mush whenever she thought of how she was going to come up an excuse to lure his mind off of things. He had a different question for everything so her theme would never match correctly with his.

* * *

As Penny walked into the castle, yelling could be heard from the entrance, supposedly from Dr. Claw's lair where Talon would be. While she didn't want to, the undercover HQ agent found herself running towards the lair.

"Uncle Claw! Why am I going in here again? I didn't ruin the mission, Penny did!"

"I don't care!" the grinch slammed his claw on the armrest of his throne hard, "You let that clone die!"

"She's not dead, Uncle C! She's right there!" Talon pointed towards the girl standing in the doorway, watching in shock and anticipation for what was going to happen next. Talon sighed in relief as he hung from his foot over a tank of shark-infested water while his Uncle Claw and MADcat caught sight of Penny.

MADcat meowed as her eyes lightened up, and she ran towards Penny, jumping into her arms suddenly.

Penny held in the hard sneeze as she held the heavy, overweight kitten that was who-knows how old. "Haha, hi there." she smiled nervously as MADcat purred uncharacteristically.

Talon gazed at Penny in shock as MADcat showed that type of affectionate, but glared when Penny made eye contact with him.

 _Those eyes...Penny! Stop it!_

"Talon, you told me she was dead!" Dr. Claw turned to his nephew as he held his finger over the button that would drop him into the tank.

"I told you that she almost died! Not that she was dead." Talon groaned as MADcat jumped out of Penny's arms and hissed at Talon.

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Oh, for fuck sakes!"

MADcat covered her ears as Penny took a risky move and pressed a button on Dr. Claw's keyboard, closing up the shark tank and releasing Talon from the rope that was starting to snap in several areas.

Dr. Claw turned around, sending a glare towards Penny. She gazed behind him, and Talon looked at her with horror while there was a quick blink of a "thank you." If her panicked state hadn't of taken over her, then she would've thrown one back.

 _What have I done?! That's it. I'm dead. That claw is gonna impale me with an arrow or me and Talon will both be shark food. Nice going, Penny. Just nice._

Just then, MADcat jumped onto Dr. Claw's lap and meowed needily.

"What? Oh, c'mon. Don't tell me you need to pee now when I asked you fifteen minutes ago!" He growled as MADcat dug her claws into his thighs as a threat.

"Okay, okay!" Dr. Claw gave in as he picked MADcat up off his lap and walked out of the lair hurriedly, leaving Penny as stiff as a rock and Talon to pick himself up off of the ground.

Talon walked towards her cautiously, no longer glaring at her or giving a negative attitude towards her. "Uh...Penny. He...He's gone now."

Penny's eyes went from blank to life-filled again and she looked around. Talon was stood in front of her, closer than she would've expected but not too close for her to feel uncomfortable or squished.

Her mouth opened to speak but nothing came out. Talon raised an eyebrow at her before smiling lightly, "Don't waste your breath, Penny."

 _Perfect, everything should go to plan from here. Make her my girl and then dump her in the shark tank in the end. That'll show her not to mess with Talon and try come back like nothing ever happened._

He moved his hand to underneath her chin and closed her mouth, flashing his charming smile at her. But he didn't bring his hand back as Penny's cheek were changing colour like she was a chameleon.

"Wanna get out of here before Uncle C comes back to end you?"

"Why are you acting like this now?" She asked him as she pushed his hand away from her chin, and crossed her arms across her chest. "You've been a bitch the whole time I've been here, even after I saved you from being executed by the police!"

Talon sighed (although it was fake), "Look, I may not of been grateful for everything else, but I will be now. I just needed some time to cool off since you're back here after what you've done."

 _And you'll regret what you've done soon enough, Penny._

"Well...I'd appreciate it if you'd keep those hands to yourself." Penny replied, but Talon could see that she didn't really want that.

"Then why were you blushing when I closed your mouth from a fly from flying in?"

"That doesn't matter, let's just get out of here, okay?" Penny ushered as she started walking towards the door. Talon followed behind before skipping up to her side and, despite her protests, he grabbed her hand anyways.

"Talon, stop."

"Why, m'lady? It's the least I can do for you saving my ass from those sharks. I'd rather you have my ass than them." Talon half-whispered the end, sending Penny into a fit of blushing and stuttering.

I _s he seriously doing this now? What's gotten into him? All I did was press one stupid button and he was free. And doesn't he get thrown in there all the time from what I hear? And why can't I hold a grudge against him?! His charming me on purpose and I can't even resist it or at least get him to stop._

"Aww, you thinking of me now Penny?" Talon whispered again as he turned them both down the right halfway instead of the left.

"No, I was just thinking about why we're going down here instead of the other one." Penny looked back at the hallway as if she were longing to go back down there. Back down there to her room where she could message Brain back and catch a nap to mute out Talon and Dr. Claw for at least thirty-minutes.

"Do you really want to go to bed when it's 12:00PM?" Talon raised his eyebrow at her as he squeezed her hand gently, but secretly hinting that he didn't want her to leave his side.

"Maybe I will if whatever you have in store will get me killed."

"Don't think like that, baby."

"Stop it with the name calling!"

"Fine, as you wish, Penny." Talon laughed happily as he opened one of the many doors in the hallway.

Finally, the MAD henchman let go of Penny's hand.

"Ladies, first."

"How do I know this isn't a trap?" Penny glared at Talon suspiciously while she didn't even to look inside the room.

"You know, I wish you'd calm down a little and trust me for once. I ain't that bad once you get used to me. Sure, I was an ass when you came back, but you know why I was and I've come to accepting you here now." Talon sighed as he kept the door open.

Penny stood where she was, partially shocked and ashamed slightly.

I _can't trust him. I'll end up trusting him too much and then this mission will be a fail. Chief Quimby will not be impressed if I let that happen. I told him I wasn't going to let myself get distracted. But...Talon's so dreamy…maybe we could become friends just for the remainder of this mission?_

Penny gazed into Talon's eyes, searching for any sign of distrust or anything that she should be aware of.

Nothing.

 _Is he for real right now? He can't be. He's a trickster…_

"Talon...I can't." Penny sighed as her head hung low.

"You're acting like Pretty Penny."

Then, the blood drained from her face as her head jerked back up to gaze at him.

"Wh-What?"

"You're not the clone!" Talon looked like he was about to howl like an angry wolf. Penny stood where she was, though.

 _Oh, shit..._


	6. Kisses, Cuddles, and USBs!

**A/N: Here is the long-awaited Chapter Six, where the aftermath of Talon's discovery is to unravel in the words below! Is Talon really a murderer-in-training? Is Penny gonna escape? WHAT. WILL. HAPPEN?**

 **Ha. HAHA.**

 **So..school is back for me now :( Today, I'm at school, paying my $20 fee so that I can share a locker with my bestie. Hah... (Gr. 10's share because school is shamefully over-populated.)**

 **On the sixth of September, it's my first day back. And I'm not impressed. I also ain't impressed that I got into Miraculous Ladybug. I'm obsessed!**

 **Fuck. My. Life.**

 **Because school _is back, updates are becoming even more scarce. Probably once a month (or two), depending on how much homework I get given. As long as I don't get four academics like last year, I should be fine._**

 **So...**

 **Read on!**

* * *

 _Oh, shit…_

Penny's wide, cerulean eyes were glued to devilishly handsome MAD agent. She could feel her chest painfully twist into a tight knot of fear and shock. Even her go-lucky heart was feeling like Talon had grabbed hold of it; squeezing and digging his talons into the flesh of it...slowly dying from the realization that he was smarter and more observational than she thought. Her mouth was hung open with the painful shock that she was experiencing.

 _How did he see through that lipstick and streak of pink-purple that horrendously clashes with my style? It was foolproof! Exactly identical to the real clone! Was it my endless love-dazed gazing at him or my….my...or what?! Goddamnit, Penny. You should've glared at him the whole time instead of giving disgusting, sympathetic smiles! Maybe you'd be gasping at whatever's in that room and not about to meet your inevitable fate…?_

Whatever detail it was that gave away her real identity to Talon was out of her hands now. He had seen through her disguise, simple as that. Although the victim would probably never know what exposed her, an obvious work of Karma was going to grace it's presence upon her sooner or later; after Talon does whatever he is going to do to her first. Karma can be good or bad. In this case, it was both.

 _What's going to happen to me now…? For fuck sakes, my evil crush just found out it's me and will go to extreme lengths to make me regret this mission._

 _Another reason that proves why he doesn't, and never will, love me…_

The talon squeezing her heart squeezed even more, gushing spurts of her blood. But she couldn't think about Talon's feelings for her now; she had to find a way of getting out of this castle and off this island, all in one piece!

First option that came to Penny's mind was to rocket-boot herself out of the Hell hole of a castle. It wasn't impossible, but it was partly impossible because Talon also had rocket-boots, which meant he would definitely chase her; and probably win from his experience with the boosting devices.

The thought of Talon chasing her didn't sound too bad, though, to Penny. Ha, her crush chasing her over the ocean, swearing at her while possibly grabbing her occasionally.

 _Wow, my ideas of romance are seriously fucked._

Another possible way that she could escape was hacking the helicopter and flying back to HQ. (Luckily, HQ had a helicopter pad on top of the roof. And endless flying simulators taught her how to fly already!)

 _Unless Talon uses Dr. Claw's plane, I'm in for another chase, which'll probably end with me at the bottom of the ocean like the Titanic._

That is, if Talon had to guts to do that, and not a heart that yearned for her.

 _Shit, shit, shit! What the fuck am I supposed to do?! Plan A or Plan B? Or...Plan C? Play dumb and hope for best? I doubt that one's any better than A or B, since my facial expression had probably blown my chances of using that as an excuse._

At that moment, Penny made the quick decision of putting a poker-faced expression on, hoping to somehow convince Talon that he was overreacting about the whole situation. Chances of that, though, were very slim and almost impossible.

 _I'll just have to hope that the idiotic side of MAD boy gets the better of him, just this once!_

The voice that read the thoughts in her head was dripping with deep and needy desperation. Even her heart was about to lurch forward from how much she was hoping Plan C would work...or at least stall her some time to think of yet another escape maneuver that would result in her alive.

* * *

As Penny had become lost in trying to think of how to escape MAD castle alive, Talon's stone glare on her was intensifying every second that went by; his strong fists were clenched together so hard, that his nails were almost about to break through the elastic fabric of his lilac-coloured gloves. His heavy breath was seething through the tiny gaps of his white fangs, making a low, hissing sound; Talon's calves were starting to hurt from standing up so tall and sternly, and he wouldn't be surprised if he started cramping up in a few seconds.

She was here. She had slept here. She is still wearing his uniform! As much as that was something Talon had wanted to see her do, he didn't want to see her do it like this.

His mind was racing with so many things that he wanted to say to her, yell to her. Insults, questions, and assumptions were about to give him a migraine.

The sounds of his aggressively gritting teeth were blurred out by Penny's thoughts, luckily, since it was cringeworthy. Even to Talon.

 _These are my last pair. MADcat ain't tearing these beauties up, only I am if I don't calm down! I don't think even have enough allowance left to order more fucking gloves, let alone a new pair of rocket boots!_

Pushing the thought of ordering in a new shipment of gloves aside for later, he realized that Penny's shocked expression had turned to a dull one, telling him that she was probably done with being lost in her own world or she at least had put some attention back towards him.

An open-mouthed smirk replaced the fang-bearing frown on his lips as he gritted his teeth together more, producing the same sound over again, but louder and possibly worse than nails on a chalkboard to her ears. It instantly got ahold of Penny's attention.

The tensing of her shoulders and squinting eyes told him that she was disturbed and that he had finally got her full attention.

"Hello, Pretty Penny, I like the hair. It suits you cuz' it's horrible!"

His words came out with the charm he usually gave her, and almost immediately, her cheeks darkened. Not with a blush, but with anger. That was a first.

"No kidding." She replied bluntly, like it hadn't affected her and she agreed to it.

Talon was going to scare her in his own little way.

The Talon Way.

Scare her out of the castle so that she'd never ever come back. Never again did he want to see her here where his Uncle Claw and MADcat could murder her.

He was even mad to the point where'd he tie her up, put her on a boat, and let the ocean currents take her to wherever they waved. He didn't want to see her.

But…

Her presence was...not a menace to have around, in fact, he kind of liked it. Knowing that someone he truly did love was around...he was afraid to lose her. Afraid to leave her stranded on a boat in the middle of the ocean, never to be seen again… Afraid to live up to his next status as "Murderer-in-Training" if he wasn't already there.

The anger he had been feeling was slowly fading when he realized it, and now that he wanted his Pretty Penny to stay next to him, he was now coming up with plans himself.

And for once in a lifetime, they weren't evil or take-over-the-world themed.

But his inner self was there to scold him about his actions, nevertheless.

 _I should be angry? Why ain't I angry?! She's wearing my clothes better than I do. She's ruined her beautiful, lemon-coloured hair with that horrid shade of purple, and is making me into a weak chicken-nugget! If I'm not angry anymore, then what was this fist-clenching, calf-aching, teeth-gritting fit about in the first place?! Errr, Talon! How could you let a goodie-goodie soften you?!_

There was still the urge to chase her down the halls and out of this huge castle, just for fun, but it wasn't as strong as it was the moment he had realized it was her. Instead, he wanted her to stay.

Although she shouldn't be here and she was in danger of being thrown into the shark tank for dinner, Talon felted that it was better for her to stay with him.

He didn't know any other reasons on why he wanted her next to him apart from that one, but he was determined to stop his thoughts and doubts get the better of him this time. He wasn't going to let the possibility of her being killed by his Uncle stop him having some quality time with his Pretty Penny.

His actions were the boss of him this time.

And so began his acting skills that he apparently obtains from his father.

The actor's glare turned to a playful one. A playful, but sexy, glare that he pulled off with an A+ grade. He watched as a pink blush made it's way across her lips, as if it were the paparazzi.

He had to force himself not to make comment from how adorable and vulnerable it made her look.

But then there was a look of defense, before Talon realized that Penny was about to make a run for it. Just like he had planned, she was scared. Or, at least frightened.

Reaching his arm out quickly to stop her before she could, Talon grabbed her uniform's collar gently, shamelessly trying to put on the impression that he didn't know what she was just about to do.

He couldn't help himself from smirking even more as a frown of defense crossed her lips, contrasting with the fear in her beautiful cerulean irises.

The amazing blue irises that hypnotized him and made his heart float up to his throat.

* * *

Meanwhile, Penny was caught in a hurricane of raging fear, that she didn't have anything to defend herself from. His look of anger could never compare to how scary this one was.

Though, it was undeniably sexy.

 _Penny! Nows not the time to be looking at the sexy side about his features!_

The infiltrator tried, and failed, to stand up straight and tall to hide what was slowly breaking her down. Talon only smirked more.

With his tight grip still on her uniform's collar, Talon jerked his arm back towards him, bringing his Pretty Penny closer to him. Their faces were merely centimetres apart, and it was shocking how the force used didn't result in the pair's lips smashing against each other's.

Both, Talon and Penny, blushed.

The last time they were this close was when they had been stuck together with gum on their second mission, shortly after meeting each other. Needless to say (or see), it left Penny flattered.

And she was flattered, once again, from this encounter.

Penny would give his a nose kiss if she could, but she didn't, as that could spark up an ugly wildfire between the two. It was so tempting, but so dangerous at the same time. Talon's motives were completely blind to her eye and mind; there was no-telling what Talon was going to do next.

But she quickly realized that what was to come wasn't going to be good, even though he looked like he was about to give her a kiss. (Maybe like the ones that she had practiced on her pillow while Brain slept?)

And that was when she pulled her body back forcefully in a desperate attempt to unleash Talon's grip on her collar. Although, this attempt would probably end up with her landing on her ass with a gnarly bruise.

She didn't go anywhere.

Talon's grip on her was strong. Stronger than she had expected. But shouldn't she know Talon's strength from all their missions already?

 _Either I've been too oblivious or Talon's gotten a sudden booth in strength._

Looking back at Talon, Penny realized that his face had gotten even closer than before, which put her into a love-fueled state of panic. Luckily, the red hearts that flew over her head were invisible to Talon's eyes, so there was some sort of bonus to this situation.

His eyes began to shut as he leant in more; a hand grabbing under her chin gently, tipping her chin up slightly enough so that their lips were on a one-way collision course.

Penny's throat tightened, a choking gasp escaping her lips. Was this really about to happen?

 _I-Is…he gonna kiss me? If he is, then my cover being blown might just be the best thing in this relationship! Wait, what relationship? Penny, stop overthinking everyth-_

And that was when she felt her lips being lightly tickled by her arch-nemesis's lips. Her heart had literally started going "omg-omg-omg-omg-omg-omg!" as it thumped against her chest at a high rate. **(Excuse the poor Grojband reference. I had to XD)**

Her eyes fluttered shut immediately as Talon's lips pressed against hers harder. The arms that she had raised dropped to her sides as she finally kissed him back.

And then he pulled back. So quick that Penny didn't get the seconds to memorize the feeling of his lips against hers. He had just made a big deal of what only lasted for seconds.

Her eyes fluttered open; she wasn't hiding the lust in her eyes.

The sensation was gone. What was there was gone within five seconds. Her lips felt incomplete and dry.

Talon's smirk was still there, but it wasn't as cheeky as it was before. It was, somewhat, gentler.

 _What…_

 _What was that?! He can't just kiss me like that...can he…? He...he...kissed ME._

She inhaled the scent of his hair-gel in the midst of the shock state that he had thrown her into.

She'd let her enemy kiss her. Her arch-nemesis had kissed her. On the lips!

One moment, he was furious, the next, he's affectionate?! Who the fuck does that?

 _Talon, of course._

"Well," the culprit that just touched Penny's lips with his, finally spoke, "Let me show you what was in this room. It's about time I stop holding you up."

His voice was casual. Too casual. How was he talking like this when that had just happened?! His hands were already gone from her shirt and chin, and his eyes showed no memory of what had just happened.

Penny was gobsmacked.

And during her moment of astonishment, Talon had grabbed her hand and led her into the room.

Inside, Penny's mission had suddenly turned from bad to good.

The room was full of multiple computers, screens, and framed USB's hanging on the wall. There was no source of natural light, neither was there a lamp on the ceiling. Everything was lit up by the computers, giving the room a red glow as MAD computers had a way of doing that.

It was almost like a ball python's cage at night.

It took less than two seconds to realize that all the USB's on the wall were labelled and were up to date.

Whatever's on them, I bet it's what I'm here for!

And secretly, she was right.

Penny turned her gaze towards Talon, raising an eyebrow at her as a silent way of questioning what was going on this horribly lit room.

Talon only smiled; his surprisingly white teeth shining at her.

"This is the Computer Room, as my Uncle calls it. I like to call it "My Lounge."" He answered her, gesturing to all the computers of many sizes. There was a huge one in the middle of all of them, with a purple-lighted keyboard to it.

Ushering the blonde in and shutting the door behind him, Talon took a seat on a large, violet-coloured couch that was placed in front of a rectangle table and, characteristically, a mega-sized, flat screen TV.

A remote popped out his bracer that contained his MAD-X.

"Sit, Pretty Girl."

It was demanding, but...inviting, in a way that made Penny want to jump on the couch in an instant. But, as always, she resisted, and instead, walked over calmly.

She sat next to her handsome enemy, putting a few inches between them.

The agent was confused beyond her level.

Talon had just found out her identity, kissed her, and lead her in a room that was most-likely confidential, and was acting like none of that had ever happened! His arms were slung behind his head; a lazy grin gracing his lips as he let his holographic-remote do the channel-surfing for him.

She quickly found that she had to look away in disgust. Despicable and ignorant boys.

Her eyes fell upon the framed hard drives.

And, as Penny looked at the USB's hanging on the wall, she noticed two coincidently labelled Future MAD Plots - Talon and MAD Plots - Dr. Claw & MADcat!

 _Is Talon trying to help me?! How can he do that if he doesn't know why I'm here? Does he already know why I'm here?! Does he even know for sure that I'm the real Penny?! Was this all a fucking joke?!_

Her train of thought was broken as she was suddenly brought into Talon's arms, forced into a gentle, warm embrace that didn't seem to be ending any time soon. It was probably the worst and best thing that could happen.

None of the two spoke. Penny's shocked and uncomfortable expression went unnoticed by Talon, who was smiling sincerely with his eyes glued to the TV, which was now on a random channel showing a random show.

And then...she fell into him. She hugged him back, even though the slumped over position she had been pulled into was straining her back. But Talon's warmth gave her a reason to let it go, and tell her why it was worth it. Plus, when would she ever get an opportunity like this ever again?

She sighed, enjoying the fire that ignited in her chest…

Before a harsh realization put it out.

Her mission would be done tonight.

She had found the USB's. She'd just have to test them out of the computer in this room, make sure they were true to their word, and then leave MAD castle in the middle of the night with a pair of rocket boots.

A pair of rocket boots that she'd probably cherish because they're Talon's…

She'd be back at home; everything back to normal. MAD would realized they'd been infiltrated when those two USB's went missing. Talon would break whatever they had now…

And...it was all worth it!

It wasn't long before Penny shifted herself into a more comfortable position, and cuddled into Talon's form. She wasn't interested in the TV, or the USB's, not now.

Talon had succeeded in catching her attention. And the urge to pull away was no longer there when he hugged her even closer.

 _I'm..cuddling with Talon? What the actual fuck?! Chief Quimby's gonna kill me if he finds out! No, wait. Brain! He'll chomp my ass like a chew toy!_

"What you thinking, Pretty Penny?" A sleepy sounding voice called to her. Snapping her head up to look at him, Penny smiled lightly.

Nothing stopped the word that came from her mouth.

"You."

The shade of Talon's cheeks darkened instantly.

Their second kiss came a second later...

And so did a lovestruck smile.

* * *

 **Leave a review if there should be more Talenny in the next chapter?**


	7. I Knew it Was You

**A/N: This was going to be put out early Friday morning, but because I had so much motivation to write this, I got it done tonight with satisfaction levels over 9000.**

 **This may be one of the cutest (and saddest) chapters in this entire story :) I cried near the end when writting this, because of what happens. (Don't worry, this ends with fluff 3) Anyways, sorry for the long delay! It's Oct 12th and my last update was Aug 31st! That's just not right.**

 **But hey! I got you guys a wonderful, fluffed Talenny chapter! So enjoy :)**

 **Now, I'm off to study for a test and start storming up ideas for Ch. 8!**

* * *

Hours passed before Talon finally dozed off; Penny stuck in a tight embrace as she laid against him awake. Wide awake. It was nearly 6:00pm, and the halls smelled like burning, but like Talon had said before, she dismissed it off as MADcat's disastrous cooking that Dr. Claw, disgustingly, enjoyed. Seriously, how is Dr. Claw not food poisoned yet? At least the TV was on a good channel, playing a marathon of Shrek movies. Throughout the first one, she and Talon had brought in references from Shrek is Love, Shrek is Life and the ridiculous SFM parodies of the ogre whilst catching all the jokes that flew over each other's heads as a child. That was something that the undercover HQ agent found enjoyable, if not the aroma of burning tuna.

She slapped Talon for the dirty joke he had made, regarding "tuna", before dozing off. Maybe that slap had put him to sleep? She doubts it; it wasn't even a hard slap.

But now, Penny was stuck. In a tight embrace from the boy she had been crushing on ever since the day that she first saw him. And she was holding onto him too! She felt warm and secure, even though he was her enemy. He should be squeezing her like a snake until she suffocated, but no. He held her like she was a newborn baby. He held her the same way he held Chief Quimby and Talon's chin was rested on top of her head, nestled into her bright blonde hair. Her legs were dangling off the edge of the sofa, while her arms were folded against his chest like lawn chairs.

She was deathly silent, and not because of him being asleep, but because of how her lips felt.

The previous afternoon had been as confusing as much as it had been fun. The duo found themselves playing Mario Kart, watching Shrek, and taking turns playing GTA. The part that would leave Penny utterly flustered was when Talon's lips would meet hers in an unexpected, two-second kiss, usually whenever he'd beat her ass at a race or joke. She hardly had enough time to kiss him back, even though she knows that shouldn't, as her mission was at its peak.

If Penny was Talon's smooch buddy, she wasn't a good one because whenever his lips would touch hers, she'd freeze like a starving rat hearing the word "cheddar", and would have a quick freak out while Talon wouldn't say anything as he smugly returned back to choosing the next racing circuit, ultimately winning against his dazed Pretty Penny once more.

Which lead to yet another kiss and a flustered Penny.

And it wasn't until she had kissed him with an open mouth did he _finally_ stop and resorted to cuddling. He kept chatting with her, though, as if the kissing and racing hadn't done a single thing to affect him.

And now, she laid. Enjoying the scent of his fresh hair gel and strong cologne over burning fish. She felt guilty, but so good at the same time. She knew she shouldn't be enjoying any of this, but she also knew, that Talon wouldn't say a thing about it, and that Chief Quimby would never know unless she told him.

Which was something that she definitely wasn't going to do?

This was a moment that nor she or Talon would ever speak of, and keep it a memory shared between the two of them.

But in the back of Penny's mind, were the flash drives she had spotted earlier, in an out-of-the-box frame gallery of USBs on the wall behind the couch. She had to, she needed to, get the ones labelled "Future MAD Plots" and "MAD Plots." That was the only reason she was here, with a horrible streak of violet in her hair, and black lipstick.

She could leave tonight! She could retrieve them, steal a pair of rocket boots (something she's been wanting to do for some time now), and go home to HQ and get an A+ on her first mission! She could finally see her Uncle Gadget and get an adventurous story off of Brain about doggie-sitting her uncle. Chief Quimby would send her out on her own even more, and then maybe Kayla would finally come out of her shell and try a mission of her own?

And most of all, she could trash the black lipstick, and bleach the purple-pink ombre out of her bangs so that she was back to normal.

Those were all the so good pros of grabbing those USBs. The cons, though, were more important, though. Eventually, Talon or Dr. Claw would notice that the two USB's had been stolen, then fingers would be pointed towards her, Talon would shoot her down with his gum-gun, expose her, break her heart, tie her to a boat, and leave her stranded in the middle of the ocean until she starved to death or a shark came to end her misery.

Maybe that's a little far-fetched, but not impossible. It could happen, and it is something that Talon would do.

If he didn't love her.

As if God was on her side, Talon stirred enough for her to be able to get out his tight grasp. He was now leaning against the armrest of the sofa; his arms wrapped around the armrest. Penny noticed that his lips were pushed against the fabric, and he was mumbling a word that started with a "P."

She took the opportunity to get off the sofa and eagerly skip towards the wall behind her. Her heart was beating against her ribcage while her fingers shook with excitement. Her cerulean eyes were entirely focused on two things, which was the two USBs that would bring her home.

She reached out and grabbed the frame with them both in, undid the back, and carefully took them out and pushed them in her pocket, before setting the frame back up on the wall.

It wasn't discreet. She'd be caught the moment Talon woke up and laid eyes on the wall. He was already suspicious of her motives, and quite possibly already knew her true identity, but with HQ, risks had to be taken, especially with MAD: their greatest and longest enemy.

Penny sighed contently, and a tingly feeling of relief washed over her. Her biggest worry had finally been taken care of, and now, she could go home with an empty stomach ready to feast on donuts that her Uncle Gadget had in the closet. She hadn't eaten since last night since breakfast and lunch didn't seem to be an option in this fish-smelling castle.

Penny felt so relieved and proud that taking her hair out of its ponytails didn't seem like a restriction to anymore!

"I knew it."

An accusing, cold voice broke the swelling pride in Penny's chest and the silence that was cursed in the room.

She froze. A chill ran down her spine and transferred through to her frozen limbs. Her cerulean eyes were wide with horror as her grip on her pocket where the USBs were tightened. She was nothing but afraid to look behind her into the piercing chocolate eyes that she could feel throwing knives into her back.

She was doomed.

She was so excited about going home, that she didn't take her time. There was never a time limit, never a deadline to find these plots. She could spend a year here if she wanted but probably would die within 365 days.

But she just had to take the huge, obvious risk. She never even checked if Talon was _actually_ sleeping. He could've been faking, and by the looks of what was going on now, he might as well of been. How stupid could she be? As stupid as all the other agents at HQ? Who did nothing all day but drink espresso and stuff their bellies with cafeteria goodies?

 _Yes, I may as well be. I probably just got myself the death penalty in the Court of Talon._

Penny nearly jumped when she felt a hand grab her shoulder, forcefully turning her around until she was face-to-face with the boy that had caught her gloved-handed. She didn't even try to resist; it wasn't going to do her any good.

But his look was harsh, but... It wasn't one of anger and frustration, but one of what looked like to be worry and fear. He was biting his bottom lip hard without saying another word. He was towering over her, and Penny noticed, that it looked like he was shielding her from the open door that let in light from the hallways.

"I..I can explain." Penny choked out while studying his expression. Immediately, a hand went over her mouth, banging her head into the wall behind her with the force. She gasped, but he only pressed his hand tighter to silence her while making sure that she could still breath out her nose.

Penny writhed against him desperately in hopes of a possible escape but gave up when his voice broke the silence.

"What are you doing here?!" Talon yelled in a whispered tone. Now the worry in his eyes wasn't poorly concealed by fake anger and accusation anymore. It was shining through the glass of his eyes. He moved his hand back from her mouth, allowing her to speak while bringing a finger to his mouth, signalling her to whisper.

"I...I…"

 _What the Hell am I supposed to say?! "Hi, Talon! Just came to pick up a few USBs with MAD's future plots! I'll be leaving now, bye! Love you!"_

"Penny." Talon started again, stricter and quiet. "Why are you here? You could get killed!"

 _Is he worried about me? That's a shocker._

But her heart turned at the realization. And for once, she felt that she should be honest with her enemy that swore not to get caught by.

"Exposing MAD's plots for the future.."

Penny watched his expression, expecting a full change of expression, resulting in her death and funeral being held at the bottom of the sea by dolphins.

But she got the exact opposite. She got a snicker. And then a chuckle, which leads up to a full on laughing fest. Now he was being louder than her after telling her to whisper.

"What's so funny?" Penny asked, embarrassed and dumbfounded by the sudden outburst.

No answer.

"You're acting like Kayla on her period."

 _I shouldn't have said that, though, it is very, very, very true...and funny. Haha._

Talon laughed even more, completely stunned by what she had just said. He fell to the floor, curling up into a ball of laughter.

Penny groaned and waited until he stopped, and luckily, a few moments later, he did. He stood back onto his feet, levelling himself against the wall with an arm while still shadowing Penny. Penny's expression was still plagued with confusion.

"Is it bad that I was so on point by thinking you're here for these plots?!" In his hands, he held the two USBs that had been in her pocket. Her eyes widened while slapping a hand to the pocket she had put them in, but could still feel them.

She heard Talon snicker as she pulled them out, waving them at him triumphantly.

"Those are deploys." He snickered more, taking one and plugging it into his bracer's USB slot. On its pink holographic screen, it showed nothing of documented plots for the future…

But a series of pictures of Talon on the covers of many magazines that he's modeled for lately. (And to Penny, they were undeniably handsome photos.)

Penny wiped off her temporary glaze while her frown found its way back onto her lips, ever so gracing it presence to Talon.

"I knew you'd love these more than those plots because you totally have a crush on me." He grinned evilly at her, turning off his bracer and handing the USB back to her instead of keeping it. He winked at her to tease her even more.

"I do n-not!" Penny stammered and lied, stomping one of her feet on the ground stubbornly.

 _Yes, you do..!_ Penny could hear Kayla's obnoxious, teasing voice in her mind whenever she brought MAD boy up.

"Your lips say otherwise," Talon said calmly, causing Penny to fumble on her words even more than she already was.

"What?! I-I just said I di-!" Penny tried to speak but stopped when she saw Talon charge for her lips. And she almost didn't stop him but had to get her priorities straight unlike before. And with the energy and adrenaline rushing through her veins reaching their peak, Penny landed a loud, hard slap right across Talon's perfect face, snapping his face sideways so that Penny's lips only met with the cheek she had just slammed her hand across.

Talon froze for a few seconds before snickering for what felt like the one-hundredth time this afternoon.

"Thanks for kissing it better, Pretty Penny." He turned his head to her again, bouncing his eyebrows playfully.

 _Why's he gotta be like this?!_

"Can I go now?" Penny deadpanned, arms crossed over her chest in a fake bore.

Talon didn't answer. He just simply looked at the USBs in each other's hands.

He could let her go. Let her go home with the USBs that had his beautiful face downloaded all over it. Let her go home and get an F on her first failed solo-mission. Live alone for another few months or years before she'd be back over here (hopefully as his evil girlfriend). Keep the plots secret and put her in danger for the future...

But he didn't want her to.

Talon was cursing and hating himself mentally and emotionally for enjoying her company even though he had tried endlessly to hurt her. His original plan was going to plan until mid-afternoon, where he realized that she wasn't the actual clone, and had his suspicions confirmed after planting the deploy and catching her purple gloved-handed.

And he had been kissing her throughout the entire day! And just tried now! He was her enemy; not her smooch buddy. Was it because she "nearly got shot dead on the earlier mission"? No, because if she was the real Pretty Penny, she must've sabotaged the entire thing and made that excuse up. It made perfect sense.

But he was so caught up in his chain of thoughts that he didn't realize that Penny had run out the door and into the hallway. His heart turned, and shivers coiled around his bones, giving him a feeling of cosmic and shady purple auroras enveloping him in guilt. Talon sprinted to the door, catching her running down the hallway to the exit.

 _No! She can't go! Not yet!_

Running and catching up to the undercover agent, he snagged her by her hand, pulling her back around the corner. Penny yelped, but like earlier, he held his hand over her mouth to keep her silent. MADcat came crawling around the corner, holding a plate of barf-looking fish that stunk up the entire castle.

Her yellow eyes glanced over to the two agents; a suspicious expression painted into her fur. The position they were in looked really wrong, with Talon behind her, Penny bent slightly forward, and his hand cupping her mouth. MADcat walked away awkwardly, probably scarred from the scene.

And as soon as she was gone, Talon almost dragged Penny back to the computer room while her cheeks were dark.

"I didn't say you could leave!" Talon growled when they got back to the room.

"I thought you did."

"You'd rather leave than spend quality time with your future boyfriend?" Talon teased while pulling the USBs out of his bracer. Penny's eyes fell onto them as if she were a 5-year-old in a candy shop.

Talon could tell the future of her career depended on those USBs, but he wasn't willing to give them up just yet.

"You'll never be my boyfriend, Talon." Penny groaned as she pulled her arm from his grip.

Talon grabbed his heart and pretended to be hurt, "Ouch, that stings!"

 _It kind of does…_

Penny rolled her eyes.

Talon returned to his normal self…almost. His expression turned serious very quickly, wrapping his fingers around the USBs. "I'll give you these once you let me show you they're authentic."

Penny raised an eyebrow at Talon suspiciously, but with the desperateness to get her hands on those USBs and out of this hellhole, she agreed. Talon didn't smile with triumph; he didn't even bounce or narrow his eyes.

It was impossible that he was being genuinely serious. The last time he was serious was when he put the former MAD lair in self-destruct mode and couldn't figure out how to disable it.

Penny flopped herself down on the sofa they sat on earlier, letting out a hmph as she had one of the most unamused expressions. Talon walked towards the TV, popping his Uncle Claw's USB in the slot first. A few seconds later, a long list of files popped up on the bright screen.

Talon was watching Penny with an unreadable face, while hers contorted in horror with what she was reading…

"Kill...Penny…What?!" Her voice was trembling, shaking with the reality that Dr. Claw, in fact, knew who she was. Penny shifted in her seat, suddenly very uncomfortable in this castle.

Dr. Claw's plans had her name written all over them; "Hold Penny for ransom, murder Penny in a 'freak accident', get rid of Penny… blah blah blah! Talon?!" She glared over at him with disappointment and worry while her oxygen was caught in her throat. Talon had a worried glance over his eyes as well.

"I didn't want you going back to HQ with these, because if Quimby saw all...this, he'd stop you from going on missions for your safety," Talon replied, looking away shamefully.

 _Does he actually...care?_ Penny knew that Chief Quimby would no doubt deploy her until MAD was defeated once and for all, but with a sneaky henchman and foolish uncle running it, no one could bring them down completely. And Penny didn't want to lose her opportunity to be on the field, just like she has been for the last seven or eight years. No one would be there to crack the case while Brain kept watch on Inspector Gadget.

But Penny smirked. She couldn't let Talon know that he had touched her heart. "Ha, you care?"

It was a harsh accusation, enough to of made her cry or meltdown if it were her receiving the remark.

But that didn't go well with Talon. He had just tried to do something nice, by exposing all the plots his Uncle had made, so that she didn't get deployed and never see him again. He loved her and learnt to accept it over the years of knowing her, even though it hurt every night to know that they'd never be an actual thing.

Talon loved seeing her every day. Even if they fought over the stupidest things, there was always a scarce moment that they'd glance into each other's eyes and find the hidden emotions bottled up in a glass bottle, but then they'd lose sight of it and resume their fighting.

How foolish was he to care about her when he should know she wouldn't mind never seeing him again?

His throat bubbled up with anger, disappointment, and shame while his eyes squeezed shut in an attempt to hide how watery his eyes had just become unexpectedly. His fists clenched together as he pulled the USB out of its slot, tossing it into Penny's lap.

"Yeah, I care about you, and if that's a problem with you, then get the fuck out of my Uncle's castle!" He yelled, glaring at a frozen Penny for a few split seconds before turning away.

"Talon, I-"

"Penny, just go. Take that USB and never see me again." It took everything he had not to burst into tears at the words coming out of his mouth. He was a tough boy, not a crybaby. He wasn't going to cry in front of Penny.

Penny felt nothing but guilt. She had probably just ruined her chances of ever being Talon's girlfriend. She felt broken and helpless, and even though she had half of what she needed to pass her mission, she didn't want to go. She couldn't just leave Talon on a short end! It was a horrible deed.

Instead, she stood up from her seat on the couch and walked towards Talon, who refused to meet her saddened gaze.

"Talon…"

He didn't answer. He wasn't going to answer, Penny could tell. And that hurt her even more.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to look..weak in front of you." Penny sighed, looking down while clutching the USB in her hand tightly. Talon still didn't move. "And...if you really want me to take this USB and go back to HQ, then farewell."

She could feel hot tears trailing down her cheeks as she glanced at the back of his head, and she didn't care anymore. She never meant for this to happen, and if she had said something more supportive than _that_ , they probably wouldn't be in this mess.

Penny turned around to the door, her eyes blurring with tears before taking a step forward.

And then she heard him.

"Wait...you really want to go?"

"...N-no."

"They why are you?"

"You told me to."

"Don't listen to idiots."

Penny's smile returned to her face and the tears stopped.

 _How does he do that?_

Penny hugged him, wrapping her arms around him tightly and hiding her head into his shoulder, and he hugged her back. Her heart was heating up. Really fast, and so was her heartbeat. A shivering sigh escaped her lips as she relaxed flat on her feet; not tip-toeing to meet his height while feeling defenseless.

In the back of her mind, she suspected that he may be tricking her again, but she knew that was just her paranoia trying to break through. But the love and contentedness she felt in this moment was leaving her completely senseless.

Her mission could get fucked.

She had Talon.

* * *

 **What is on Talon's USB though...? :)**


	8. She's Back!

**A/N: Unfortunately, the next chapter is... the last one. Hopefully to be up by December 26th (my 15th birthday). If not, it'll be a New Years prezzie.** **Now I hope you're prepared for this chapter :) Sorry for such a late update, blame Miraculous Ladybug for it. Been addicted to it for far too long wasted my time watching it on my TV when I could have been a little more...reproductive and write this sad/dramatic chapter.**

 **Like a reviewer suggested earlier on in the story, I'll be bringing the... you know who, into the story.**

 **Which also will leave this wide open for a sequel! But, that's entirely up to you readers to choose. It'll probably be a two-three chapter sequel if it does happen, considering I have a new semester starting at the end of January. And all four classes require me to pass them :/ (english, french, socials, planning)**

 **Anyways...**

 **I will be doing shout-outs in the next chapter, to all the reviewers that shared and showed me support as I wrote this story!**

 **Read on! :)**

* * *

"Talon and Penny!" A sudden PA system turned on throughout the castle, letting a roaring growl echo through the castle and ears of the two teenagers. They both cringed; shrivelling up their shoulders as it pierced their poor ears.

They hadn't moved ever since moving to the couch, embracing in each other's arms, something Talon was cherishing very much. Penny was holding back her emotions; something that girls were very good at. But Talon could see them.

Penny missed home. She misses her Uncle Gadget and Brain. Kayla, Chief Quimby, and Slickstein. Although Talon wished he could be the one on her mind, he knew that there more important and meaningful things than him. And he hated to admit that.

But with the respect he held in his heart, Talon let it fly, and simply cherished her warm body in the tight embrace they had been sharing for nearly twenty minutes now.

Until today, he had never been held closely and tightly in the last few years. His past was...not great, to sum it up without going into too much detail. But he forced himself to brush off that distant memory, though, because at least these arms were alive, and not cold and stiff.

Even Talon was holding back emotions, just like Penny, but they weren't the ones that tickled your eyes with sadness and made you disconnect from the world around you.

They were good. And not because of his and Penny's embrace, but because of the unsettling nervousness that ruptured his stomach and made his heart ache with longing.

Talon's dark eyes turned down, gazing intently at every blonde strand of Penny's hair. Every thin hair had its own lustrous shine as if those beautiful highlights were their hearts that danced in the reflecting light. Strangely, it was fascinating. Maybe if Talon didn't spend three hours spraying, gelling, and combing his hair every morning, his hair was have the same appearance as Pretty Penny's hair?

An evil highlight, of course.

And just when the feeling of a needed release was gone, it came back again with the mention of the 'e' word. He was so caught up in his thoughts and stargazing, he didn't notice Penny stretching and standing up, walking towards the door nervously.

"Are you coming, Talon?" Her beautiful voice called to him, bringing an irresistible signature smile to his lips.

"Of course, Pretty girl."

Penny couldn't resist the urge to roll her blue eyes as Talon picked up off the sofa, "You miss hugging me, don't you?"

"I always do." He bounced his eyebrows playfully, making Penny's cheeks pink in blush.

"Well, suck it up Princess, cause when I go back to HQ, we won't have cuddles like that anymore…"

Talon's heart lurched, and so did Penny's, but she hid it. It was true. Their presumable relationship wouldn't really be a relationship after Penny went back home. They wouldn't have time to cuddle, or even the privacy to kiss or hug briefly during their future missions. Heck, Penny may not even go on missions after she exposes Dr. Claw's murderous plans for the next few weeks of missions. Which were surprisingly sinister compared to his previous sketches.

Talon didn't say anything else after that, feeling a little offended by it. Penny felt she should apologise, but as she opened her mouth, they turned the corner and were headed towards the booby-trapped lair. So caution and their lives became a bigger priority for the time-being.

But Penny's Code-X vibrated rather loudly, and the blue, holographic screen popped up at her wrist.

A message from Chief Quimby.

Penny dismissed it off, though, assuming it was a check upon her, for she didn't check in with him again this morning after getting back to MAD castle. Still…

Things didn't seem to be clicking together.

Talon ignored her forwardness with her Code-X and was relieved that she didn't get hurt on the way up.

Because the two barely made it to the lair without a shark being shot from a canon.

Despite the rough edges towards Penny, Talon opened the lair door for her, letting her walk in before him. He didn't tease her, mainly because he was mad and that his Uncle Claw would probably tease him about it.

And man, when they both walked in, the colour drained from both their faces at who they saw standing next to Dr. Claw.

Talon grabbed his Pretty Penny's hand tightly, pulling her to his side with a jerk. He stared across the room, at the blonde girl who held MADcat in her arms, She was pretending not to notice them, scratching the sweet spot behind the yellow-eyed cat's ear. Purrs filled in the suspenseful silence.

Penny couldn't believe it. How could this have happened?! She had been locked away the moment Penny had detained her when she infiltrated and jeopardised her trust with all her friends! She watched the two security guards handcuff and escort her to the underground holding cells for 'experimented on' prisoners. The only reason she was held down there was because Talon had created her with a sample of Penny's DNA…

The clone.

The real, legit clone of Penny. Manipulative, brave, and determined to become powerful, especially more powerful than Talon. (And maybe even Dr. Claw?)

She wore an orange jumpsuit, with HQ's emblem stitched into the upper-left of the top, indicating that she was a prisoner.

Who had undoubtedly escaped?

The Clone's blonde hair was messy; strands sticking up in random places over the span of her incarceration. One of her hands was itching her scalp, while a satisfied smile reached her lips and a sigh was released.

Penny could recall the rumours of a head lice infestation hitting the underground jail, and that it forced each of the prisoner's into segregation to prevent the spreading. Everyone was treated, which meant…

They weren't in their cells for the treatment.

But, that was a week ago. Before Penny's mission started and she was sent on an adventure from the ruins of Hell.

And if the clone escaped before receiving the head lice treatment, she'd probably already be here!

Now Penny was beginning to wonder if the message she had gotten from Chief Quimby wasn't a check-up? Quite possibly not…

Shit.

"So, Talon…" Dr. Claw started off, an unamused expression painted on his face. Talon winced, bringing his eyes away from the Clone, still not noticing Penny's panicked state beside him, even as he held her hand protectively.

"Care to explain why there are two Pennies?" MADcat snapped out of her dreamy state, hopping out of the Clones arms and onto the armrest of her master's chair, giving the same glare that her master was.

Talon didn't know what to say. His Pretty Penny was in serious danger. Dr. Claw wanted her dead. It was downloaded all over that USB that he and Penny yet had to discuss.

He looked deep into Penny's blue eyes, seeking answers from her that couldn't be given. Penny didn't know what to do either. She was fearful for her life as much as she was for Talon's.

"Because, to me at least," Dr. Claw started, pointing next to him with a sinister smile, "this one looks like the real deal. I doubt your Pretty Penny would ever give herself head lice to infiltrate us."

And Dr. Claw got it right. It was bad enough that Penny died a streak of her bangs that horrid ombre, that there was no way in Hell that she'd give herself head lice.

"I agree, Dr. Claw." The Clone smirked, glaring right at Penny, "I would love to thank her Uncle Gadget, or should I say, my Uncle Gadget, for foolishly trying to demonstrate the art removal of head lice. Half of us escaped the prison today, didn't Chief Quimby message you a Code Red?"

Penny felt as if her whole being had been scrunched up and thrown to the ground.

She could never be as sly and savage as this clone. Never. Why did she even think infiltrating in her disguise was a good idea?

"I-I, uh…" Penny couldn't speak; her voice hitched in her throat. The Clone's evil, knowing smile sent her chills that told her to run.

"Don't bother checking now, I've hacked your Code-X while you were on your way up with Talon. There's no escape from here. You either die now or die trying." The Clone put her hands on her hips as she held her pink-screened MAD-X out, showing clearly that she had complete dominance over her device.

Talon and Penny glanced at each other in desperation. Penny knew there was a very high chance of this whole thing becoming her demise, but let down her guard a little after Talon seemed to be rooting for her. Now, she was hit with a brick wall; reality knocked right back into her. How could she have been so dumb to let a BOY get her guard down?

For all she knew, Talon could've have staged this entire thing.

"Talon, let go of this infiltrator's hand." Dr. Claw growled, glaring right at their intertwined hands. "You know how I have her many demises planned, so let it be this one. MOVE." His voice was deep, strict, and commanding, but Talon's grip only tightened, bringing her closer until their sides were brushing against each other.

"Penny, run." Talon's voice was merely a whisper, barely even audible but loud enough for only his Pretty Penny to hear. "But what abou-"

"I'll be fine. I deal with this every day, Penny," Talon interrupted, not careful enough with his volume that the Clone heard. Penny's heart thrummed, her cheeks burning lightly.

This boy…

"Awww, you're like OTP, but it's time for you to say goodbye to your blonde angel." The Clone cackled, lunging in between Penny and Talon, breaking their hands apart in a swift movement. Talon wanted to dump the interfering clone into the shark tank, but the button for that was on his Uncle Claw's keyboard. Before Talon could even try, a loud, low warning erupted from the fat, lazy cat lounging on her armrest.

MADcat's furious hissing filled Penny's ears as she ran out from the lair, dodging every trap that set off during her flee. She didn't know where to run; into one of the hallways or outside the castle? Outside seemed like the alpha option, but she'd be cornered out there when the clone caught up to her. Penny had a pair of Talon's rocket-boots on, and even though the urge to fly back to HQ was incredibly strong, she couldn't just leave Talon here, with that horrid creation. What would happen to him? If he ended up dead and she could've helped him, Penny may never have forgiven herself for it.

"Penny Brown! Get back here!" Dr. Claw commanded from his lair while Talon and the Clone came out, chasing being her. The both of them were fighting for the lead; both on different sides. Man, if this mission never happened and those two were assigned on missions together, Penny would need a Talon-clone of her own...because of course, it is unstoppable.

The poor girl picked up her speed at a dramatic pace, extremely thankful in that moment that she had long legs and good training programs. She kept her pace, not turning her head back to see how close the clone had come.

And it wasn't long before she was eventually grabbed by someone whose hand wasn't gloved. Penny resisted against the hand but was yanked back with a simple movement. Her eyes widened from the immense strength; an involuntary yelp escaping her throat that had dried from jogging with her mouth open.

Another yelp came when she was yanked again, this time turning her around to face the person that had caught her.

Penny came face-to-face with the Clone. The girl's eyes were bloodshot and her teeth weren't perfect like they had been, now that they were yellow, crooked, and a few knocked out. She heard Talon skidded to a stop beside them both, launching onto the Clone in an attempt to pry her off of Penny. But it didn't work, and Talon was thrown to the ground from an elbow to his gut.

Penny was sure that she had caught head lice off of the Clone for how close they were. Her body odour was overpowering, almost enough to be used as a (lethal) weapon. Penny took the immediate chance by raising her leg and smashing it into the Clone's side but was punched in the gut, putting her down to the ground in pain.

The Clone cackled, kneeling down and grabbing Penny by the ear, "Did you honestly think that you'd be able to infiltrate this castle so that you could spend time with your Talon?"

Penny wanted to tell her she wasn't specifically here for Talon, but saying otherwise would result in even more trouble than she already was in, so she kept her mouth shut and didn't attempt a poor comeback.

Penny gasped in pain as she was yanked, once again, to her feet by the cartilage of her ear, before being let go of. Talon had recovered from the searing pain and stood up, stepping calmly between the clone and Penny.

"Leave her alone."

"Ha, who's gonna listen to you?"

"You are, because I am second-in-command, and I command you to leave Penny alone."

The Clone rolled her eyes, "Move out of my way or I'll kill both of you useless lovebirds."

Penny knew Talon was secretly trying to tell her to run. And so she did, desperately sprinting towards the door. The Clone growled, edging around Talon and pulling something out of her jumpsuit pocket while putting her hardest into catching the runaway. Eventually, she caught her.

Talon trailed behind her...

That was…

Until the Clone pulled out a switchblade, flicking it onto a sharp razor and in a quick move, stepped in front of Penny and held it against the flesh of her neck, turning her around to face Talon, who froze in an instant.

"Look who's in command now?" the Clone smiled, letting out her breaths in heavy pants. She wasn't too fit from her incarceration, but she was winning either way.

Penny grabbed at the Clone's arm desperately, nearly choking from the blade pressing against her neck. It must've cut into her skin from this pressure. Either that or the blade was very dull.

Penny's blue eyes scanned Talon's face, silently begging for him to get her out of this situation. But the poor teen was stuck. He was afraid to talk, worried that he'd say something wrong, something that would get he and Penny both killed. How was he not even having a panic attack?!

Penny sighed, her blue eyes becoming more lustrous with tears, "You're in command. Now kill me. I should've known better than to come here after a boy."

The Clone giggled sickly, holding the knife in place, "You think I'm gonna kill you?"

"Well, yeah. One move of your arm, and I'll bleed to my death." Penny replied timidly. Her voice was cracking with fear and horror.

"As satisfying as that sounds, it's not my department to kill." The Clone sighed, bringing the blade from Penny's neck…

Talon and Penny glanced at each other with confusion before looking at the Clone. Who was smirking at Talon with a very suspicious grin.

"Why?" He finally spoke, his fists clenching together tightly.

"Because that's not what Dr. Claw wants!" the Clone shot back viciously, scaring Penny with the sudden rise of her voice, considering her mouth was right next to her sore ear. Talon took a step back in defence.

"He wants his nephew to finish what he has caused."

It was then that the gears in Talon's head clicked. Penny was now the one that had gone speechless.

Talon nearly fell to his knees. How was he supposed to kill his Pretty Penny?! The one girl that kept him from falling into a darker place, and kept his heart soaring like an eagle. Just another reason why he should've kicked her out of MAD castle earlier on. And now he would be forced to kill her. Slit her throat or stab her until her heart stopped. Maybe he could make this story into a Romeo and Juliet and kill himself afterwards?

"So," the Clone snapped Talon away from his train of fears, "What do ya' say, Talon? Wanna show her Uncle Gadget and genetically-enhanced mutt what happens when they let her go to dangerous places for a boy?" the Clone beckoned with a sinister, sweet voice.

Penny's eyes were filled with tears that were leaking out slowly, trailing down her cheeks. He...He had to try.

"I'm ready."

The Clone looked at Talon with shock, expecting him to decline, but began smiling proudly.

"Good, I'll go let Dr. Claw know. And if I don't hear a scream of agony in the next few seconds...you're dead, too!"

The lice-infested heathen shoved her blade into Talon's hands, wiping her hands off on her jumpsuit before jogging back up to Dr. Claw's lab with the biggest smile. Penny fell to her knees, panting heavily from...everything.

Her crush was going to kill her.

Her cerulean orbs looked to her demise with a blank expression. She was crying in front of him. Something that she swore she'd never do.

Talon simply dropped the knife, delicately grabbing Penny's hands and bringing her up to her feet. His gazed into her eyes, and she gazed back, before leaning in and placing a kiss upon his lips. Talon's eyes went huge and kissed her back before she pulled away.

"D-Don't...don't kill me," Penny begged, stepping on the blade and kicking it away. Both Talon and Penny's cheeks had darkened from the kiss.

"I'm not gonna kill you, Pretty Penny." Talon hugged her tightly, before whispering confidently. "Now run."

And Penny didn't need to ask if he would be okay. His voice answered her unspoken questions. She let go of her warm, tight embrace with Talon, gazing into his brown eyes once more before she sprinted off, out the entrance of MAD castle, and activated his, or hers, rocket-boots.


	9. Mourning

**A/N: Well!**

 **This is it. The end of one of my greatest stories, and it upsets me as much as it excites me. BUT, sometime in 2017, I MIGHT return with a sequel to this! I'm leaving it wide open for one just in case I do sometime in the future.**

 **Today I'm finally turning fifteen! But that still won't stop people from mistaking me as my five-year-old sister's mum -,-**

 **But what better way to celebrate my birthday than finishing an amazing story that I've been working on since June?**

 **I was going to theme this chapter after MLB, (kinda like Marinette(Penny) standing on her balcony, only to have Chat Noir(Talon) swoop down and visit her where the fluff ensues!)**

 **But, there was just some other stuff that I wanted to take care of, and I felt like writing an MLB-themed conclusion would be too short and cheesy.**

 **Plus, if I made a sequel, updates would definitely be faster because I got an iPhone SE yesterday for Christmas :) (along with a shit tonne of FNaF merchandise!)**

 **I would love to thank EVERYONE who read this from beginning to the end, or even stuck around for a few chapters and left. It's been a long, six months of writing this for me, and a long six-months of you awesome readers reading this. I was frequent with updates for the first few chapters, but school and stress got to me, which resulted in updates becoming less frequent. But hey, I got it done. **

**All I have to get done now is my My Little Pony FanFic that I've left neglected.**

 **I really do love how this story came out. I had no idea what I was doing in the beginning, to be honest. I got the plot idea and began writing without a second thought. A special thank you to the guest who suggested bringing the actual clone back!**

 **(I seriously think that Penny and Kayla's friendship is almost identical to Marinette and Alya's from Miraculous Ladybug!) (I'm still obsessed!)**

 **Special shoutout to IHateYouToTheMoonAndBack!**

 **Thank you so so much for all your encouraging reviews! I am seriously really grateful for all of them. You've helped motivate me when writing this and helped get chapter's out a little earlier than they would have if I didn't get your awesome reviews. :)**

 **Thank you, and enjoy the last chapter of ACiD!**

* * *

Ten days…

It's been ten days since Penny left MAD Castle. It's been ten days since Penny left MAD Castle, and returned home to HQ, where she was safe and welcomed…

Ten days since she last saw Talon…

And she hadn't even heard of him since.

As soon as Penny arrived home late that night, she ran into the bathroom and bleached her blonde bangs of the horrid ombre. She changed out of Talon's clothes and threw them into the corner of her closet, changing into her PJ's that she'd much rather wear and be comfy in.

She'd sit at home, on her couch, watching the TV to pass time as her Uncle Gadget would hang at HQ, bothering the Hell out of poor Chief Quimby. Brain would lay on the couch next to her, his head resting on her lap depressingly, to match with his owner's composure. It was all Brain could do. Lay next to her, comfort her; greedily greeting Penny's shaky hand when she'd scratch under his chin, or behind one of his floppy ears.

Penny hadn't been this depressed since that day many years ago. But no one brought it up, even though Penny's behaviour was very close to being the same.

Brain knew that whatever happened at MAD Castle on her solo mission had scarred Penny, left her completely different, and not in a good way at all.

No one needed to ask if Penny was okay because just looking at her gave away the answer.

Sad and worried; depressed and sombre.

Chief Quimby didn't allow her to come to HQ for her training because of her state. Plus the fact that MAD was currently on an uncertain hiatus.

Everyone was...practically off of work, without having any news of MAD.

Inspector Gadget tried cheering up his Lucky Penny but felt that he failed because he couldn't even get a beautiful smile off of her in return for his silly, comforting stunts.

Brain wished he knew what happened to Penny.

The mutt was sick of hearing her sobbing and choking into her pillow. He did his best to comfort her when she was struck by anxiety attacks, something that never happened before. (Brain was uncertain about how to deal with them.)

He'd fall asleep to the soothing lullaby made by Penny's snores when she'd finally fall asleep at night (after soaking her pillow).

Everyone: Gadget, Brain, Kayla, Professor Von Slickstein, and Chief Quimby asked what happened, and practically begged for an answer.

But they never got one out of their usually confident Penny.

Finally, Penny talked.

She partially lied, that Dr Claw had tried to kill her, and the escaped Clone had shown up just as she was escaping. But she never said anything about Talon…

Which Kayla caught on to later on.

Kayla tried relentlessly to get the truth out of her best friend, but Penny was surprisingly stubborn. Kayla finally quit when Penny burst into tears.

Immediately, without further interrogation, Chief Quimby assumed Penny ultimately failed to get Dr Claw and Talon's future plans.

Penny's eyes fluttered open, sleep glazing over her cerulean eyes, blurring her vision until she blinked the sleep away. Her pillow was damp from a few hours before, just like every other morning.

The teenager didn't even want to wake up. Poor Penny wanted to die. She wanted to die, just like her Talon…

Penny could only assume that the Clone had killed him. She had convinced herself that there was no way Talon escaped alive.

Every time Penny thought of that brave, handsome MAD henchman, the tingly, warm feeling of his lips on hers would make itself known...

But then the memory of them retreating struck her in the heart, and tears would threaten her eyes when she ran for her life…

His fate would be in the hands of his brutal family...

Penny was so, so sure that he was dead, dumped somewhere in the ocean; lying still and peacefully on a bed of coral and sand: his final resting place.

Brain and her Uncle Gadget were out for the morning, searching the city for small traces of MAD activity or other suspicious crimes that HQ was involved with.

Now that the Clone was back with MAD, missions could positively become more dangerous and outrageous with a truly evil and smart girl leading the missions. HQ didn't know what may have happened to Talon, so they assumed the two were working together.

Without her two relatives in the house with her, Penny would have the entire morning to sulk in guilt and despair, in the house that she use to feel so comfortable in.

Why did Penny Ruth Brown have to fall in love with a boy who'd commit suicide to save her life?! Why couldn't she fall for another junior agent in HQ instead of a brave villain who stole her heart away?

Well, in the beginning, she kind of did. But that boy turned out to be a filthy, handsome infiltrator, to retrieve his Uncle Claw's claw.

Why couldn't she fall in love with someone on her side? Penny guessed she'd never know…

Sitting up abruptly in her bed, she stretched her arms out wide, over her head. A loud yawn escaped her as she allowed her eyes adjust to the sunlight that shone through her bedroom window.

She was trying to keep that individual out of her mind, and surprisingly, it was working at the moment.

Penny was intently staring at her window. Her eyes weren't focused on anything particular; just her window. It was all clear, blue sky. No clouds, no pigeons flying by in the breeze.

It took Penny another few minutes to realise that she was desperate for fresh air.

And not just cool, crisp air that she could achieve by standing outside on her balcony, the type of wind that blows through her bangs, while she walked down a busy sidewalk, down in the city.

Penny could faintly hear the outside calling her name.

Maybe this was a good thing? Or was it bad?

Penny couldn't go outside; she was a disgrace! Leaving a boy to be murdered!

But…

No one knew that she did it, only she, herself, knew.

A revelation.

Even though Penny felt as if her heart drowned in the sea with her beloved Talon, she needed to swim back up to the surface, catch her breath, and…

Move on.

Talon is dead. As dead as her parents.

Penny is alive. As alive as his ruthless Uncle Claw and the Clone.

(Penny still wished she was dead and Talon was alive instead, even if that meant MAD would take over the world. Talon would be happy.)

Penny didn't have any second thoughts. Grabbing her phone, she texted Kayla.

* * *

 **Penny:** _Hey, wanna go somewhere? :/_

 **Kayla:** _Huh?_ Are you _actually texting me after I made you cry?_

 **Penny:** _I'll be over in ten._

* * *

Within ten minutes (which felt like ten seconds, really), Penny was dressed in a casual outfit: jeans and zip-up hoodie with a chibi-style drawn bear, bunny, chicken, and a fox on the back. (Get the reference? :)

Swallowing a glass of water and jogging down the stairs to her door, Penny tried hard to resist the urge to hide her head in shame underneath her hoodie as she stepped outside into the warm sunlight, but gave in.

Her eyes travelled downwards instantly, navigating her way around carefully without an eye level view. Her hands fumbled into fists in her hoodie pocket; her back hunched over slightly. No one could see her beautiful face and shiny, blonde hair.

It was only a five-minute walk to HQ.

The rumbling sound of engines driving by her distracted her, letting her mind wander to places that she shouldn't be. That, being the unbearable guilt that came with leaving Talon to commit suicide for her life to be spared.

But was it worth it?

The Clone would surely get to her some day. It was inevitable. Plus, all of Dr Claw's plots on that USB involved her being murdered…

Penny was absolutely sure that her death date was far sooner than ten years.

Looking up to see how close she was to HQ, she didn't expect to see a blur of purple and black, before being met with a "hmph!"

Penny felt herself being flung backwards, too late to put her arms out behind her to soften her fall.

She landed painfully on her bum, her hands hitting the ground, keeping her in a sit up position.

A painful, strained groan erupted from Penny's throat as she gazed over at the figure beside her. Definitely a male.

His breathing was hard; face concealed by his black hood. The stranger was in a plank position beside her, gasping loudly and desperately for breath.

It was then that Penny saw his left arm in a purple cast.

The poor guy had fallen on it, crushing it with the weight of his body compared with the hard slam against the cracked concrete sidewalk.

Penny felt horrible. Something that she had been feeling every day, for the last ten days.

"I'm so sorry! I-I..I should have been looking where I was going!" Penny apologised desperately, rubbing her bruised hands of dirt and rocks implanted into her palms.

"You should be!" The stranger replied rudely, hunching his body over his broken arm, his breathing becoming a little more steady. The voice was eerily familiar.

Another groan of agony came from the stranger.

Penny looked down in shame.

Maybe coming outside was a bad idea after all. She should have known that coming outside was the worst thing she could possibly do on a sunny day.

Penny was cursed.

Penny opened her mouth to apologise for more, but the stranger started talking again, cutting her off.

"Fuck sakes, can the past few days get any worse?!"

Penny raised an eyebrow worriedly. She had to get out of here.

Quick.

"Huh?"

"I lost the girl of my dreams," the stranger's voice lowered. "I told her to leave. I was kicked out of my own home and replaced by a damn experiment. And my dumbass Uncle broke my arm."

Penny's heart wrenched. Something, or should she say, _somethings_ , about this boy was familiar. His voice, his story, his...figure. Skinny and tall...

"I...I'm sorry you're not having the best days you could have...I haven't either."

"How so?"

Penny sighed, wrapping her arms around her knees.

"I left the boy of my dreams behind. He's probably dead because of me. I can't even smile at my dog or uncle. No one. I...I feel dead inside. Damnit, I don't even know why I came out today! Now I'm sat on the sidewalk and venting to a complete stranger."

Half of Penny wanted to laugh at how pathetic she was, but the other half just wanted this awkward encounter to be over so she runs back home and sulks on her couch.

Breathing in a deep breath, she froze.

That smell…

It was overwhelming, just enough to make a lovesick girl swoon. But, she didn't swoon, instead, she…

Recognised it. Her mind wandered back to Talon. He wore way too much hair gel, everyone knew that, but he relentlessly did it no matter the criticism he received for it.

Her heart nearly sunk to the ground, just as hard as her bottom hit the ground a few minutes ago.

It couldn't be.

Talon and this gentleman had the same voice, same scent, same figure…

Tears suddenly threatened poor Penny's eyes as she asked, her lips quivering.

"Wh-Who are you?"

The stranger hesitated for a few seconds before exhaling heavily.

"I'm...Talon." The silence between the two was broken with the teenage boy's pitiful voice, "Talon Claw." It was then that he sat up, kneeled on the sidewalk on his knees.

Talon had fully expected the girl to leave. Everyone knew who he was. MAD's devilishly handsome henchman, and second-in-command. The public would be smart to stay away from him.

What Talon didn't expect, though, was to be met with a tight hug that crushed his sore arm even more, and the depressed girl to shove her face into his shoulder and sob heavily.

The boy assumed she was another fangirl of his that was so ecstatic to see him, that she would cry so hard her makeup would stain his clothes.

Talon sighed annoyingly (not having a single clue that it was his Pretty Penny), and patted the girl's back a few times before grabbing her shoulders (kind of leaning his broken arm against one of her shoulders), put a little more distance between themselves.

"Alright, alright, I know you're a fan, bu-"

An instant gasp left Talon's mouth, as he stopped himself mid-sentence.

The girl's hood fell back, revealing the beautiful, sparkling cerulean blue eyes and honey-blonde hair that had remained hidden under her hood.

"P-Penny?"

After hearing her name, Penny broke down, falling back into his arms as she relished in the warmth of him that she had so desperately mourned for, the past few days.

Talon accepted her this time, hugging her to his chest as it took everything he had left to not let his own tears spill.

Reunited.

After everything that had happened to Talon, he had his Pretty Penny back in his arms, and she had her Talon back, who'd stalk and love her for who she was, relentless of what sides they were on.

Just hearing Penny choking on her tears released the tears that Talon tried so hard to conceal.

Resting his chin on top of her head, he sighed in relief.

She was safe. His Penny was safe and back in his arms.

"Wh-Why didn't you tell me you were okay?"

Penny's voice was music to his ears, even if it was broken and stained with sadness.

"I-I…I didn't think you'd want to see me after I pulled a risk like that, facing that dumb Clone…" Talon sighed, hugging her tighter in case she'd reject him in the next second.

"I thought you were dead!" Penny admitted pathetically, pulling her face away from his chest to wipe her stuffy nose.

Talon smiled, taking his chin off of her head as he gazed into her eyes, "A Clone can't kill me, Pretty Penny."

Penny giggled softly, gazing back into Talon's eyes.

His heart felt warm.

Tingly and warm.

He was warm all over on the inside. And it was all because he had found Penny. Finally.

Talon was just at HQ, tempted to walk in and make himself known. But the last thing he needed was to be arrested on scene and kept imprisoned where he'd never find Penny.

And so he left, hurriedly, which was what caused him to bump into the girl he was looking for.

Now they were sat on a sidewalk, hugging onto each other so tightly that they were inseparable.

"I've missed you." Penny smiled, forgetting about meeting up with Kayla at HQ.

"Not as much as I've missed you," Talon smirked, leaning down so his nose touched her own.

Penny smiled nervously from how close he suddenly was.

"And I love you," Talon whispered quietly, watching playfully as her cheeks turned a dark pink.

"I love you too, Talon," Penny replied, closing the gap between their lips.

* * *

Back at MAD Castle, a girl sat on a chair. Her blue eyes watched intently at the screen of Dr Claw's monitor. Showing the cute reunion that Talon and Penny were sharing.

Her head was bandaged up, a patch of bleeding through the bandaging material like a birthmark. Dr Claw stood behind, glaring at his nephew with the HQ agent. MAD growled lowly.

"What plan of mine do you think is best for eliminating Penny Brown?" Dr Claw asked evilly, scratching behind his kitten's ear to soothe her.

"Plan number 2, definitely. Plan 5 is way out of hand." The Clone cackled evilly.

She'd be back.

Real soon.

 **The End**


End file.
